The Lightning Strike
by Batsutousai
Summary: Pack dynamics are confusing enough for the Avengers without adding the complete mess that Thor and Loki grew up with, but they aren't given much choice when Loki goes into heat in the middle of a battle and Tony's alpha instincts tell him he has to take care of his pack, enemy or no. -Alpha/Omega troupe with a twist, Tony/Loki-
1. I -- What If This Storm Ends?

**Title:** The Lightning Strike  
**Fandom:** Marvel (movie 'verse)  
**Author:** Batsutousai  
**Betas:** Runic, SharaLunison, Nimohtar  
**Rating:** Mature  
**Pairings:** Loki/Tony Stark, Phil Coulson/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Thor/Jane Foster  
**Warnings:** Alpha/Beta/Omega trope (to an extent), actual wolf pack dynamics, intersexual Jötnar, sexism, suggestion of previous dub-/non-con, mating, hurt/comfort, Loki just needs some love, Bruce really wants to go Hulk on Odin, Tony is confused about everything (but not as much as Steve), Clint is an absolute ass (& drags Natasha and Phil along for the ride), Pepper is kinda a BAMF  
**Summary:** Pack dynamics are confusing enough for the Avengers without adding the complete mess that Thor and Loki grew up with, but they aren't given much choice when Loki goes into heat in the middle of a battle and Tony's alpha instincts tell him he has to take care of his pack, enemy or no.  
**Disclaim Her:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Marvel. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Whereupon Bats decides she wants to try her hand at the Alpha/Beta/Omega trope.

I did some research on actual wolves for this, which involved some tears, because the reality of wolf packs is _nothing_ like the trope. (Whoops.)  
SO! Fair warning, the human faction tends not to be anything like the trope, but the Æsir and Jötnar _are_, in a slightly complicated way that only ends poorly for Loki. *shifty*

Title comes from Snow Patrol's song of the same name. (The three-part, sixteen minute version, not the single.) I realised, while struggling for a title, that the three movements followed with the movements of this fic, and the chapter titles follow that.

Super awesome gigantic props and adoration to Runic, who let me bounce ideas off her and helped me spot a couple of stupids before they ended up on the screen. (She's also the one who talked me into using this for the FrostIron Bang on tumblr and kept me going when scenes got stuck.)  
Additional shout-outs to SharaLunison and Nimohtar, my lovely long-time betas, who gave this insanity a couple more glances before any of my 'I haven't slept in over twenty hours' errors could get me into trouble.  
Final shout-out to my artist, wnnb_darklord, who put together an awesome playlist for this fic, which includes the title songs speckled throughout, and a gifset for a scene in the first movement. Both the playlist (wnnbdarklord. tumblr post/60832166223/) and the gifset (wnnbdarklord. tumblr post/60832168051/) can be found on her tumblr.

**I – What If This Storm Ends?**

Tony had always been comfortable as a beta. Given, he had all the ear-marks of an alpha, especially when he went toe-to-toe with someone who thought it was a good idea to insult him, but he didn't like being in charge of things, didn't like being responsible.

And he really, _really_ didn't like that nagging rush of _fury_ that came when he caught Phil and Clint curled up together on the couch in front of the TV.

_I am stronger than my instincts,_ Tony reminded himself as he walked away from the problem. He knew Clint and Phil couldn't help it, that they and Natasha were in this weird, completely inexplicable three-way mate-bond and they felt safe in the tower, and safety meant touching. He also knew – hell, they _all_ knew – that the moment the team had agreed he was the alpha of their home, he would have trouble dealing with a mated pair.

Tony had tried insisting that Steve would make a better alpha, since he pretty much was, on the field, calling the shots in a way that none of the rest of them could usually manage; or even Phil, since he was part of the only mate-bond and was their direct contact with Fury; but everyone had refused him.

_'You're paying for the roof over our head, the clothing on our backs, and the food in our bellies,'_ Bruce had calmly pointed out. _'Tony, no matter how you look at it, inside these walls, you are our alpha.'_

The only person that had ever fought Tony's status was Thor, and that, it turned out, was because things were _very_ different in Asgard.

_'We do not trade our greatness to others,'_ Thor had explained to a curious Bruce, while the others watched on with no small trepidation behind Tony; he'd _tried_ to get Bruce behind him, too, but the doctor hadn't been interested in listening to his alpha, something which they'd later argued over, because Tony's instincts couldn't let him leave a member of his pack in the crossfire, no matter how invulnerable they might be. _'All men are born alpha, and all women are beta. Alphas claim betas. That is the way of the Realms.'_

_'Not this realm,'_ Bruce had calmly returned. _'On Earth, our roles change from pack to pack. Right now, here, I'm a beta – we're __**all**__ betas under Tony, or Steve in the field – but before I had you guys, I was an omega. __**Always**__.'_

Thor had frowned. _'You are a breeder?'_

Oh, inter-Realm societal dynamics was one headache Tony was quite glad to leave to Bruce, to be honest. If he _never_ had to sit through another explanation of the fucked up pack dynamics Thor and Loki had coded into their genes, it would be too soon.

_"Sir,"_ JARVIS called just before Tony typed in the code for his lab.

Tony sighed and gently leaned his forehead against the glass wall the keypad appeared on. "What is it?" He just wanted to get some work done in his shop. Maybe finally fix Dummy's squeaky wheel, assuming the idiotic bot would hold still long enough.

(The best thing about robots was their absolute lack of interest in categorising themselves or others. In his lab, Tony was always just _Tony_. He may have created them, sobbed and bled over their spare parts and useless code, but they would never call him their alpha, because the term had no meaning for them.

Also, there was a lack of sexual intent, which was always super nice.)

_"Miss Potts has requested your presence in her office,"_ JARVIS replied.

Pepper, Tony could deal with. She was his uncontested alpha, had been since the first time she'd slapped a pile of papers and a pen in front of him and ordered him to sign them all, not flinching from his appreciative stare.

He really wished a mate-bond had formed between them, if only because it might have helped soothe his instincts some. But one or both of them hadn't been ready, and not even a thorough fuck-session during her last heat had done it, though it was nearly impossible for a couple to go through a heat and _not_ form a mate-bond. She'd called them off after that, and Tony would never go against her decisions, no matter how much it killed him to follow them.

Still. Mate-bond or no, the presence of his alpha would soothe his ruffled instincts, and Tony turned and ran for the stairs to avoid any of the other Avengers.

Pepper, it turned out, had called him down because he'd missed another board meeting and, "When are you going to learn to take some _responsibility_, Tony?"

Nothing ever made Tony feel more like himself than Pepper laying into him about his inability to be a responsible adult.

It was only after Tony had settled on the couch in her office, cup of coffee – de-caf, because she and Bruce were attempting to wean him off caffeine, with mixed results – warm between his hands, that she met his eyes with that same immovable calm that she always used to hide how worried she was about him and asked, "What's happened?"

Tony almost told her 'Nothing!' but he'd already given himself away by coming to her when she called, rather than making her come to him. So he sighed and thumbed the lip of his cup and allowed, "Avengers stuff."

Either she'd known him for too long, or she could smell the truth on him, because she replied, "Clint and Natasha again?"

Tony rolled his eyes, because it had been them the last _four_ times, and Tony had been beginning to think they were doing it to him on purpose; now he figured it was all Clint, using his mates to drive Tony spare. "Clint and Phil," he admitted.

Pepper shook her head. "You need to talk to them, Tony."

Tony hung his head and lowered his hands between his knees, coffee nearly slipping from his fingers. "It's not like they don't know, Pep. And I _have_ talked to them," he added before she could chastise him, and he had, so it wasn't even a lie, for once. "But it's their home, their safe space; I can't tell them they aren't allowed to be mates."

Pepper sighed, but she had nothing to say about that; she was plenty familiar with having a beta who she was forever catching in sexual acts, but couldn't tell off because it was his home. (And Tony was usually too drunk to listen, anyway. At least he'd usually been with it enough to keep anything more than a bit of light pawing out of his alpha's sight.)

"Perhaps if _you_ sleep with someone..." Pepper suggested.

Tony shot her a disbelieving look. "Who are you, and what have you done with Virginia Potts?"

Pepper rolled her eyes. "What's my policy, Tony?"

Tony grinned. "If you don't see it, you don't care?"

"If I don't see it, I won't rip her head off," Pepper corrected.

Okay, _that_ was new. But Pepper and he hadn't tried sleeping together the last time he went looking for a fuck-buddy.

Things were different, now.

He turned his gaze down towards his coffee cup, tightening his grip on it as he realised how precarious it was. "Can I stay in here?"

"Are you going to sign paperwork for me?" Pepper returned.

Tony considered that for a moment, then gave a slow nod.

Pepper sighed and scratched long nails through his hair in a way that was far too comfortable when they weren't sleeping together any more. "I'll check to see if there's a party you can crash," she allowed, getting up and moving over towards her desk.

"You're the best."

"Am I?"

A pile of papers at least two fingers tall dropped onto the coffee table in front of Tony.

Tony glanced up at her, taking in the fond curve of her smile, the easy way her hand rested against one hip, the wisp of hair she was forever blowing out of her eyes when she got distracted by something. "Yeah," he said.

Her smile widened, glinted with a hint of cruel amusement, and she leaned forward to place a pen on top of the pile of papers. "If you finish this in under three hours, you're doing it all again."

Tony's groan may or may not have been all for show.

-0-

"Where have you been?" Steve demanded as soon as Tony stepped off the elevator.

Tony just raised one unimpressed eyebrow.

"_Wow_," Clint interrupted, peering around the Captain, eyes comically wide. "How many women did you sleep with, Stark?"

Tony smirked. "How many did I _fuck_, or how many was I _in the bedroom_ with?"

"Oh my God," Steve moaned and covered his eyes.

"I am so unbelievably jealous right now," Clint announced as Steve pushed past him, back towards the quiet sounds of the TV.

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not," Clint agreed and flashed Tony an inappropriate little smile. "So, how handsy can I get wi–"

Tony didn't even realise he was growling until Clint had snapped his mouth closed, hands held up and throat bared in submission. Tony clenched his eyes shut and took a ragged breath. "Barton, you need to leave. Right now."

Clint scrambled out of sight, the same direction Steve had gone, and Tony moved quickly in the other direction, towards his lab, because Clint's _smell_ was raising his hackles right now and just–

"Fuck," he muttered, the lazy contentment completely vanished. Well, he should have known Clint would test his patience too far, first chance he got. Tony just really, _really_ needed to break something. Like maybe that gun SHIELD had sent hi–

The alarms screamed over his head, and Tony jumped the last four stairs and shoved past the fire door. "JARVIS!" he called as he scrabbled for the keypad to get into his lab.

_"Preparing your suit, Sir,"_ JARVIS replied, calm as ever.

_"Avengers,"_ Fury said, voice crackling through the building's speaker system like lightning in a storm, "we've got a Loki sighting in Central Park."

_"I thought that fucker was locked up in Asgard!"_ Clint snarled.

Stuck somewhere between the mind-sets of alpha and beta, Tony stumbled at the sound of his pack-mate's voice, the instinctive anger still coursing through him, muted as it was. But he shook himself and kept going; get in the suit and Clint would stop bothering him entirely. And he could blow some shit up to feel better.

_"He is, but he may have escaped,"_ Thor admitted, resignation heavy in his voice. _"It may also be no more than a projection, though I was led to believe he would not be able to do such in his current prison."_

_"We're headed up to the quinjet,"_ Natasha announced, voice hard and controlled. _"Iron Man, Thor, we'll meet you in Central Park."_

_"Understood, Lady Widow,"_ Thor agreed.

Tony smiled, cold and a little violent, as his suit's HUD lit up around him. "Watch out for pigeons, kids," he called as he activated his thrusters and dove out the opening in the side of the workshop that JARVIS had opened for him.

_"Cute, Stark,"_ Clint muttered.

_"Shut __**up**__, Hawkeye,"_ Steve ordered, and Tony spared a brief wonder for how much his alpha knew about what had occurred after he'd left Tony and Clint in the hallway. Knowing how observant Steve was when it came to body language and his inability to let strife fester between pack-mates, Tony had a feeling the Captain knew everything. Which was...actually kind of reassuring, at the moment.

Loki was cackling when Thor and Tony landed in the middle of his army of...

_"Are those __**Ents**__?!"_ Clint demanded, a hint of horrified disbelief in his voice.

"Right. Who told reindeer-boy about _The Lord of the Rings_?" Tony muttered as he blasted one of the walking trees. "If I see any giant eyeballs, I'm outta here."

Clint's laughter was just a little bit hysterical.

_"Who is this...lord of rings? Did he help my brother escape?"_ Thor asked in his usual confused way. (He'd been in Asgard when they were covering that particular niche of human popular culture with Steve.)

_"Just get rid of the trees, Thor,"_ Steve suggested, a hint of amusement under the steel of his commanding voice.

_"Aye, Captain, I shall,"_ Thor agreed and lightning flickered around him, causing three of the bastards to explode at once.

The Hulk let out a roar as he hit the ground next to Tony, grabbing an Ent that had been reaching for Tony and using it to beat a line of them into submission. Behind his mask, Tony allowed himself a fond smile, even as he blasted back another Ent that was aiming to jump on the giant's back.

Steve joined Thor, while Phil and Natasha kept the quinjet in the air, one of them manning the guns, and Clint stood by the open back door, taking down Ents with arrows designed to melt through metal armour or explode.

Tony knew a couple of hits – arrows and guns – were aimed at Loki, based on the cursing that came over the line every time the Trickster dodged. Or, well, Tony assumed the god was dodging; it could just as easily have been projections, given that he wasn't actually watching him.

_"LOKI!"_ Thor roared and the ground vibrated with the impact of his hammer. A number of the Ents stumbled and fell against each other, giving Tony his first unobstructed view of the Trickster since he'd started fighting the tree-people.

Loki was grinning like a mad man, dancing just out of reach of Thor's hammer. But, Tony realised when his display zoomed in, the horn-bearing god was sweating up a storm, and his smile looked just a little too forced.

And then one of Thor's swings connected and Loki was thrown into an inanimate tree. All the Ents vanished – _"I __**hate**__ illusions,"_ Clint muttered. _"Waste of arrows."_ – and they all took a moment to just breathe, Tony popping his face plate open while the quinjet carefully landed in the clearing.

Thor tensed and dropped Mjölnir. Even with the twenty or so feet between them, Tony could smell the shift in pheromones – Thor had scented someone in heat. But the area should have been cleared of all women, save Natasha, and they all knew her cycle–

The scent hit Tony then, too sweet to be a human in heat, and his eyes darted to where Loki lay, breathing hard and soaked in his own sweat. "Thor, _no_!" Tony shouted, using his thrusters to get him to Thor faster.

Steve's face was a mask of confusion, what Tony could see of it. _"Tony, what's– What's going on?"_ he asked, voice quiet and lost like a small child over the comms.

_"Loki's in heat,"_ Natasha explained as Tony grabbed Thor's arm and tried to pull the Asgardian away from his brother. _"Remember what Thor said? All Frost Giants are omegas. __**Their**__ sort of omega."_

_'Loki's a breeder,'_ she didn't say, because not a one of them liked that word.

Hulk's strong arms grabbed Thor and held him fast, giving Tony the chance to get between the brothers. "Thor, buddy, come _on_, man. He's your _brother_."

"Get out of the way, Man of Iron," Thor rumbled, something dark and violent in his eyes. "The omega is _mine_."

"The _fuck_ he is," Tony snarled, a growl clawing at his throat. "I'm the alpha of this pack, and I won't have you fucking around like fucking Cli–"

"_I'm_ Alpha!" Thor roared.

Tony's hand was around Thor's throat before he'd even thought to move, his growl low and deadly between them. "I. Am. Alpha," Tony repeated, tightening his grip with each word.

"Hulk, get him out of here," Steve ordered, carefully pulling Tony's hand from Thor's throat.

Tony turned angry eyes on his pack-mate and Steve immediately showed his throat, deferring to Tony. Tony felt himself calming at the blatant show of submission, coupled with the retreat of Thor's scent. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to choke at the, frankly delicious, scent of Loki's heat. For once, he was almost jealous of the disability that kept Steve from smelling pheromones – or whatever it was that kept the super soldier from picking up those social cues; Bruce had explained it, but Tony just hadn't cared – Tony could have used the clear head.

"Take him back to the tower," Steve ordered the others over the comms, and Tony took a moment to let the familiar tones of his sometimes-alpha centre him.

Then he stepped back from Steve and turned to Loki, who had curled in on himself, the horns of his helmet pressing hard enough against his thighs that it had to hurt, quiet whimpers slipping between his lips.

"What do you want to do?" Steve asked quietly. "We can call in SHIELD to lock him up, since he's down. Send word to Asgard after his heat's passed."

Loki had always been complicated, because he was Thor's brother, which automatically made him part of their pack, but he was their enemy, which usually meant he was the farthest thing from pack. Tony's mind categorised him as an omega – pack, but largely unwanted – but he was still pack. And, omega or no, Tony couldn't just hand a member of his pack over to a group he _knew_ had no compunctions about torturing him, especially since Loki was already suffering his heat.

"We can't give him to SHIELD, not like this," he finally decided.

"This is the weakest he's ever been," Steve pointed out. "They'd be able to hold him for–"

Tony was already shaking his head; it was only his long-knowledge of Steve's disability that kept him from shouting, "Anyone who's alpha in their home-pack will try to rape him. And at least one of them will succeed."

_'And Loki won't be able to stop them, not in heat,'_ Tony didn't need to say.

The sound of Steve's teeth clacking together was loud in the following silence.

Tony glanced at the hard line of the other's jaw. "Be glad you can't smell him."

Steve let out a sharp breath and closed his eyes. "Then what? We can't take him back to the tower, not with Thor staying there."

Tony chewed on his tongue for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "JARVIS, call Pepper," he requested of his AI. To Steve, he explained, "Stark Industries has apartments rented outside of the tower for employees that are hard-up. It's not the most secure place we could put him, but at least Thor won't know where he is."

_"What do you need, Tony?"_ Pepper asked tiredly as Steve nodded his understanding.

"I'm in the northeast corner of Central Park. What's the nearest employee residence with an empty apartment?" Tony requested. He could have had JARVIS look it up, but she'd end up calling him as soon as the building logged him entering it. It was easier to just let her in on his misdeeds ahead of time, he'd discovered.

There was a moment's silence as Pepper checked. She rattled off the address once she had it, then asked, _"Who are you hiding from?"_

"Not me, Loki," Tony admitted and braced himself for the screaming.

"He's got my approval," Steve was quick to add.

Pepper let out a choked breath, cutting her angry tirade off before she could start it. _"Dammit, Tony."_

He grinned at Steve, because he knew that tone.

_"You had better be in my office when I get in in the morning."_

"Yes, Pepper."

She sighed, loud and resigned over the connection. _"Good night, Tony. Captain Rogers."_

"Night, Pep," Tony replied cheerfully as Steve politely offered, "Good night, Miss Potts."

Tony sighed and looked over towards Loki. "This should be fun," he muttered.

Steve let out a choked laugh. "Buckets filled."

Tony silently reminded himself that he was ignoring Steve's attempts at colloquialisms and moved forward until he could kneel next to Loki. The god had managed to silence his whimpering at some point, but he was still curled into something approaching a foetal position. "Hey, Reindeer Games."

"Get away from me, Stark," Loki managed through gritted teeth.

"And leave you here for some wanna-be alpha to have their way with you? Fuck, no."

"No, you would have me in their stead." Loki peeked one eye at him, terror and fury battling in the bright green.

"I don't sleep with people in heat," Tony replied, tone hard, but words entirely honest.

Loki let out a sound that was more disbelieving than afraid, but the fear was still there. "No one can fight their instincts, Stark," he commented with the wisdom of ages.

"Different biology, different instincts. Can you get up?"

Loki stared at him for a moment, expression inscrutable behind the muted fear and anger still battling in his eyes. At last, he attempted to push himself up, but his arms shook and his legs wouldn't take his weight when he finally got them under himself.

"We've got you, Loki," Steve murmured as he and Tony caught the god between them.

Loki whimpered, eyes falling closed and body sagging.

"Come on," Tony ordered and, together with Steve, they managed to get Loki to the nearest apartment building. Getting Loki _into_ the apartment was a bit more difficult, as the building was lacking an elevator, but some careful use of Tony's thrusters got them up the stairs with only minor trouble.

All of the Stark Industries owned buildings had been rewired to give JARVIS full access to every function of the building. While he couldn't open the door of the apartment, he did unlock it. He also turned on lights – so they could see enough to get the god to the pre-furnished bedroom – and the air conditioning – because it was _damn_ hot out, and it wasn't uncommon for someone in heat to get overheated easily.

Loki curled up in the centre of the bed when Steve and Tony let go, watching them with trepidation bright in his eyes.

Loki didn't look even the slightest bit comfortable, and Tony fought with himself for a bit before he motioned to retract the gloves of his suit. "I'm taking off your helmet," he warned before reaching forward and taking hold of it. Loki kept his eyes on Tony's hands, suspicious and afraid, but didn't fight him when the human carefully slipped it off. He held it back to Steve, who took it without a word to put on the dresser, then gently smoothed down the hair that had been upset by the helmet's removal.

Loki let out a quiet sound of misery and closed his eyes. His head tilted up, seeking firmer contact.

Tony snatched his hand away as though burned. No, no, bad. Loki's in heat and not Tony's partner. _No. Touching._ "Sorry," he whispered and stepped back, metal encasing his fingers again.

Loki's eyes opened, confusion and relief clear as day in them.

And, _God_, there was no way Loki was enjoying this.

"Keep an eye on him," Tony requested of Steve as he turned to look at the captain.

Steve nodded and clapped a hand against Tony's shoulder plate. "Send Bruce if you need my help with the others."

Tony flashed him a smirk that was, perhaps, a bit too sharp. "Are you suggesting I can't keep control of my own pack, Captain Rogers?"

Steve smiled back, calm and without a hint of contention. "I have every faith in you, Tony."

Tony quickly closed his helmet to hide the well of pleasure that comment incited, then turned and left. He trusted that Steve could handle Loki if the god tried something, and his inability to smell the heat made him the best person in their pack to keep watch. Tony would bring by some clothing and necessities for the soldier after his meeting with Pepper in the morning.

For the moment, he needed to make sure Thor would stay the fuck away from their compromised pack-mate.

-0-

Thor was, by turns, horrified at his actions, and furious at Tony for getting in the way. "He is _mine_!" he snarled at one point, expression contorted with fury and disgust.

"He belongs to _no one_," Tony snarled back. He'd made sure there was a couch and a table between himself and Thor, and Natasha and Phil stood bracketing him on either side, keeping him from trying to attack the god, since he'd never survive it without his suit. Bruce stood just at the corner of Thor's vision, a silent reminder that Thor needed to stay in his seat and _not_ attack their alpha, lest he wished to provoke the Hulk. Clint was crouched up in an air duct, ready to shoot a syringe filled with a concoction certain to knock Thor out for six hours, should such become necessary. (Tony would have preferred just knocking Thor out, honestly, and not dealing with this issue until they'd all got some sleep, but he'd told Steve he could handle it. And he _would_. Immediately. No matter how much that sucked.)

"He is of no use to you," Thor insisted, visibly attempting to calm himself so he could reason with Tony. "He is Jötunn, good only for breed–"

"He is _pack_," Tony snapped, cutting the blond off and grabbing for the couch to steady himself against the _need_ to rip Thor apart for suggesting someone in their pack was good for nothing more than carrying children. "And everyone in this pack has a use, a _real_ use."

"He would sooner see you dead than call you pack!" Thor roared, muscles bunching like he might jump to his feet. But Bruce shifted and Thor immediately slumped back, his fury melting away to lay bare the horror hidden under his instincts. "Oh, oh Norns," he moaned and hid his face in his hands.

Tony took a deep breath and glanced down at where his fingers were digging holes in the fabric of the couch. Shouting was getting them nowhere, and he could see the signs of exhaustion in the stances of his human pack-mates. Logic didn't always get through to Thor, Tony had learned, but logic laced with lies... "Tell me about Loki," he requested, quiet and soothing.

Natasha shot him a sharp look, questioning his words, but Tony just shook his head at her.

Thor shuddered and shook his head.

"You've always said he's brilliant, far more clever than anyone else you've ever known, save your father," Tony said, keeping his voice even and soothing. "You said he's saved your life more times than you can count, can ever hope to repay."

Thor shuddered again. "This is truth," he managed, voice tight.

Tony nodded. "Tell me about omegas."

"Oh," Natasha breathed, and Clint shifted behind the vent opening just above her.

Thor peered up at him from behind his fingers, forehead creased with confusion.

"Are they smart?" Tony wondered.

Thor shook his head. "No, they are–"

"Are they capable enough to protect an alpha?"

Thor shook his head again, swallowing loudly.

"Is it possible Loki was hit with a spell that has forced him into a false heat, as though he was an omega?"

Thor's expression smoothed over. "It– A-aye. It's possible."

"Your brother's already suffering something unnatural," Tony murmured, holding Thor's gaze. "Something utterly wrong. He's probably miserable, not to mention scared. You treating him like a real omega won't help anything, will only hurt both of you in the long run."

"Don't add to the list of things you need to beg forgiveness for," Bruce added quietly.

Thor flinched, then hung his head. "Aye. I have almost made a most grievous error." He met Tony's eyes, then, helpless and sad. "I apologise, Alpha," he intoned.

"I forgive you," Tony replied, hoping that was the correct response. Sometimes, he really didn't get Asgardian pack customs.

"I should return to Asgard, to see if there might be a cure," Thor suggested hopefully.

"I don't think letting Asgard know your brother is in trouble is a good idea," Phil commented drily.

"We'll wait until he's feeling better," Bruce offered with a careful smile. "Maybe he can tell us more about the curse. Or Tony and I can find a way to defeat it, right?" He turned to Tony with wide, uncertain eyes, silently asking, _'Are you sure about this?'_

"Absolutely," Tony agreed, responding to both questions at once.

Thor smiled between them, eyes shining with gratitude and tears. "I shall leave these troubles in your hands, then."

"Maybe you should think about visiting Jane" Clint suggested from the ducts. "Let everything blow over a bit?"

"I–" Thor took a moment to consider that, then gave a great nod. "Yes. That is a most excellent idea, Clint. I shall go immediately."

"It's late, even in New Mexico," Phil cut in before Thor could call Mjölnir. "This evening's been rough on everyone. Why don't you wait until morning?"

"One of us will fly you out there," Clint agreed. "Remember what happened last time you showed up out of nowhere with a storm?"

Thor grimaced; Jane Foster had been running an experiment at the time, and his storm had completely ruined it. According to the SHIELD flunkies running around the complex, she'd banished him to the nearest town for a week. Thor had been in kicked puppy mode for almost a _month_. Which, while hysterical to watch around the tower, was a liability on the battlefield.

Tony left it for the rest of his pack to discuss travel plans and walked over to the nearest cabinet of booze to pour himself a large drink.

"You don't think Loki is under a spell," Natasha murmured, grabbing Tony's best vodka.

He flashed her a tired smile. "I think there's something rotten in the state of Asgard."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

Tony glanced back at where Bruce and Clint were ushering Thor from the room. "Thor said Loki's a beta, but he's clearly not. I suspect there's hocus pocus involved, but I'm not sure why or how."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Stark," Natasha cautioned.

Tony flashed her his most shit-eating grin. "Good thing I'm not a cat, then." He tossed back the last swallow of his drink. "Good night, Natasha."

"Good night, Alpha," she murmured in response.

Tony rolled his eyes and stalked off, mentally cursing Thor for rubbing his weird customs off on Tony's pack.

-0-

Pepper listened to the whole story in stony silence. When Tony finally fell silent, she was quiet for a moment more, then said, "This can go so wrong, so fast."

"I know."

"You're playing with fire."

"Ice, actu–"

"Tony."

Tony swallowed and looked down at his hands, folded in his lap like a boy sent to the principal's office. "I know," he whispered, shaking his head. He glanced up at her, then, tired and determined and silently asking for her approval. "He's pack."

Pepper closed her eyes, one hand coming up to massage her temple. "Promise me something?"

Tony raised an eyebrow, refusing to make a promise before he knew what she was asking.

Her mouth curled; she'd clearly expected his silence. "Be careful." She opened her eyes and matched his gaze.

"I'll try," he offered.

Pepper sighed and her smile was resigned. "If he harms you, I'll rip out his spleen."

Tony laughed, then, loud and relieved, because that, from his alpha, was approval. "I'll make sure he's warned."

Pepper nodded and waved a hand at him. "Now, get out of my office. Unless you want to sign some more pap–"

"Thanks, Pep!" Tony shouted, scrambling for the exit.

Her laughter followed him out the door, a little too sharp, but soothing none the less.

-0-

Steve met him at the door, looking entirely too worn for Tony's comfort. Instead of stepping into the apartment, he grabbed Steve's arm and dragged him out onto the landing, the door closing behind him. "What's wrong?"

Steve sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "He's been whining and moaning and begging for you since you left."

Tony raised both eyebrows as far as they would go. "Ex_cuse_ me."

Steve's laugh was not comforting. "You heard me."

Tony stared at him for a long moment, then shoved past the soldier and into the apartment. He found Loki curled up on the couch, whimpering and rocking himself. Steve had managed to get the god out of his armour, at least, and into a pair of cotton trousers and a shirt – or Loki had been wearing that under his armour, more likely, since there shouldn't have been any clothing in the apartment.

As Tony's scent reached him, Loki fell silent and his body relaxed. "Stark," he breathed.

And then, like a shot, Loki's entire body tensed and he got up and stumbled from the room, the bedroom door slamming shut behind him.

Tony felt Steve stop at his side, smothering a laugh behind one hand. Tony closed his eyes and groaned. "Jesus Christ, how is this even _remotely_ my life?"

Steve gave up on muffling his amusement and let out a bellow of a laugh.

Tony shot him an unamused look, then walked over to the bedroom door. He rattled a quick knock against the wood and called, "Loki? Do you want to explain that little show?"

Loki was silent.

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair, unsurprised. "Do you need anything?" he asked Steve, determined to ignore the faint giggles the captain couldn't quite contain. At least he'd stopped bellowing his laughter.

Steve snorted and covered his mouth. "Nothing JARVIS can't find for me."

Tony nodded. "Good. Thor left with Clint for New Mexico this morning. He's not intending to come back until either his girl kicks him out, or Loki's settled, so you shouldn't have to worry about him busting down a door."

"Unless Dr Foster kicks him out."

Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve. "Really?"

Steve grinned, wide and obvious behind his hand.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Whatever. If Loki gives you any trouble, I can send someone over to relieve you, so let me know."

"Certainly."

Tony nodded. "Good. I've got some–"

The bedroom door crashed open and Tony crumpled under Loki's greater body weight as the god crashed into his back.

"Tony!" Steve reached forward to try and help, but Loki snarled at him, hovering over Tony, then buried his nose against the back of Tony's neck, breathing him in.

Tony, for his part, held very, very still. "Loki," he called, forcibly keeping his voice calm. He had no fucking clue what was going on, but he had a sneaking suspicion this had to do with Loki spending the last twelve hours complaining about him not being around.

Loki relaxed against his back and let out a contented hum.

"Loki, you need to let me up," Tony said.

Loki let out a whine and pressed his face harder against the back of Tony's neck.

"_Now_," Tony ordered, steel in his tone.

Loki let out another whine, but he obediently backed off enough for Tony to get to his knees. Before he could rise the rest of the way, however, Loki lay on the ground and curled up around him, head in Tony's lap, shoulder pressed against one side of Tony's thighs, knees pressed against the other.

Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then looked helplessly up at Steve.

Steve blinked a few times, clearly just as confused as Tony. "I– I don't–"

"Go get Bruce," Tony suggested, because he was the one who understood the most about the Asgardian's – and Jötunn; Jötnar, whatever – fucked up physiology.

"Right." Steve gave a quick nod, then spun and ran from the apartment.

Tony sighed and turned his gaze down at the god in his lap. Loki had clenched his eyes shut, one hand clutching at the front of Tony's shirt. "You wanna explain this, Rudolph?"

Loki turned his face away, hiding against the inside of Tony's thighs.

Tony sighed again. "I didn't think so," he murmured, finally giving in to the strange compulsion to run his fingers through the tangles of Loki's hair.

Loki relaxed and hummed, pleased.

Tony really hoped Steve and Bruce got back before his legs fell asleep.

-0-

Bruce took one look at them and sighed. "Tony," he said, "what do you do when Clint ticks you off?"

"Get the fuck away from him before I rip him a new mouth in his neck?" Tony suggested.

Loki huffed a laugh against his thighs.

Bruce turned his eyes heavenward for a moment. "Who do you _go_ to? When you're stressed."

"Pepper," Tony replied shortly, feeling a bit defensive. Bruce knew where he went – all the Avengers did.

"Why?" Bruce pressed.

Tony shot him a sharp look.

"Bear with me, please."

Tony let out a quiet growl, barely aware of his hand soothing down Loki's back when the god shifted uncomfortably. "Because she's my alpha."

"She's safe," Bruce pushed and Tony gave a short nod, scowling. "You stood up to Thor in the park, told Loki you wanted him safe from other alphas."

"Oh," Tony breathed, glancing down at the god, who was still clinging to his shirt. Loki had turned his head enough that he could peek up at Tony through one green eye, a sort of helpless fear dulling the usual colour. Tony carefully ran his fingers through Loki's hair again, just firm enough that the omega would know they were there. "Well, I do. As often as I want you locked up and out of our hair, right now I want you safe. You're pack," he murmured. And maybe that was oversimplifying things a bit, but Tony had a feeling that simple was as much as any of them was going to want right now.

Loki hid his face against Tony's thighs again.

Tony let out a quiet sigh and glanced up at Bruce. "I'm going to have to stay here," he guessed.

Bruce glanced back at Steve, who carefully stepped forward and placed two suitcases within easy reach. One was a horrid paisley affair that Tony almost remembered from the very back of his closet – Clint's idea of a birthday present – the other was the Mark V. "If you need anything else, one of us can run it over," Steve added, offering Tony a helpless little smile.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, chaffing at the restrictions he could already feel closing in on him.

From his lap, Loki let out a quiet whimper and flexed the hand clutching Tony's shirt, gathering more fabric in his fist.

Tony took a deep breath, reminded himself that he had _duties_ as Loki's alpha, dammit, and he'd sworn off being a fucking failure back in a cave in Afghanistan. "Okay," he said quietly. "Okay. Loki, I need to check my suitcase, and you need to let me up for that."

Loki reluctantly uncurled himself from around Tony, sitting up at Tony's side and hanging his head.

Tony reached out and ran his fingers through Loki's hair again, watching the faint tensing of his shoulders relax at the contact. "Do you want to go sit on the couch?" he suggested. "It's more comfortable, and I'll be right over."

Loki shifted uncertainly for a moment, then shook himself and climbed to his feet, movements suddenly violent. He wavered for a moment, need and fury warring across the lines of his face, then he spun and stalked over to the couch, falling into the cushions with a huff.

Tony found himself unspeakably relieved at the reappearance of the contrary Loki they were all so familiar with, as brief as the appearance might turn out to be.

"I had to kick Clint out a few times, so he may have slipped something in," Steve offered apologetically as Tony pulled the ugly paisley suitcase onto its side.

"Second mouth, I swear," Tony muttered, pulling the suitcase open. The necessities were there, packed to military standard, and Tony very carefully tilted his head away when he rolled his eyes, so Steve wouldn't see. Clint's contributions turned out to be an arrow filled with that solution to knock out Thor – ostensibly meant for Loki, should the Trickster pose a threat – and one of the Hulk rubber duckies that Stark Industries had started selling as a lark. (Tony was keeping the creator a secret from Bruce, half afraid the good doctor would go mean and green on the bright young woman who had been dared by her co-workers to bring the project to Tony's attention. He'd thought it was brilliant and approved it immediately, much to Pepper's resigned amusement. Bruce seemed eternally torn between horror and disbelief whenever one of the ducks appeared in the tower, and Tony suspected that Clint got as much of a laugh as he did at Bruce's reactions, which was why they both kept bringing them up and leaving them where they were certain to be found.)

Bruce groaned upon seeing the current duck, then turned and walked over to the couch. He didn't sit next to Loki, instead choosing to crouch down in front of the couch. "Loki, I don't know if you're aware that there are differences between human packs and those of the rest of the Nine Realms, but there very much are, and we're not really sure what to expect from you. Can you walk me through what a normal heat is like for you?"

"I don't answer to you, Monster," Loki spat.

"Okay, _no_," Tony snapped, hurrying over and standing behind the couch, one hand dropping to the back of Loki's neck. "Everyone's pack, and there will be no name-calling."

"Or _what_?" Loki demanded, craning his head around to glare up at Tony as he sort of half attempted to shrug Tony's hand off of him.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "I leave."

Loki went tense all over, his eyes widening with such depths of fear that Tony felt dizzy watching him. Then the god ducked his head, chin to his chest, and pulled his knees up to curl around them.

Tony gently massaged the back of Loki's neck, feeling the tension leak away like water through a cracked bowl the longer he did so. "We can tell you how it works in our culture, and then you can fill in the blanks," he suggested, glancing down at Bruce.

"I can do that," Bruce agreed with a cautious smile. Loki must have made some sort of silent response, because he continued, "For humans, only women have a heat. It happens every two to four months, depending, and usually lasts about a week. During that time, they can become pregnant, and a pregnancy will put a hold on future heats until the child is born. From what I've been told, women tend to be supremely miserable if they're not sexually active during their heat, and some honestly can't function without some sort of object – penis or sex toy, the body doesn't differentiate – filling them."

Steve let out a faint noise of discontent and hurried from the room. Tony smirked a bit at Bruce, who rolled his eyes.

Loki shifted under Tony's hand, uncomfortable, and explained in a stilted tone, "I have only suffered one heat previous, and cannot speak for other omegas, but it is my experience that there is first a need for–" his breath hitched, "–for physical contact, then intimacy. My last heat lasted...I believe it was four of your weeks, but time passes oddly in the Void."

Tony tensed, but before he could comment on that last, Bruce asked, in a voice laced with carefully controlled fury, "You've only ever had the one heat before?"

Loki pressed back against the hand on his neck and gave a cautious nod.

Bruce let out a hard breath and closed his eyes, knuckles tinged green where they were clenched too tightly. "For humans," he said, voice low, anger less controlled, "it's dangerous to chemically suppress a woman's heat. It can lead to all sorts of physical damage, even death." He opened his eyes, violently green, and spat, "If I _ever_ find whoever suppressed your heat, I'll–"

"Bruce," Tony murmured, pressing his hand tighter against the knot of tension at the top of Loki's spine, "as much as I enjoy Mr Hyde's company, I don't think this apartment will survive him."

Bruce took a great, shuddering breath and pressed his fingers against his eyes, setting his glasses askew. "Sorry. Sorry, I know. Give me a minute."

Tony was quiet while Bruce regained his centre, fingers soothing along Loki's neck. When the other scientist finally opened his eyes, Tony ordered, "Go check on Steve. Make sure he didn't drown himself in his embarrassment."

Bruce gave a jerky nod and hurried to hunt down their other pack-mate.

Tony considered his options for a moment, then boosted himself over the back of the couch and settled down next to Loki, keeping his hand on the back of the god's neck the entire time. "I can do physical contact," he promised quietly, ducking his head forward so he could meet the watchful green eyes hidden behind a curtain of black hair. "But I have a rule about sex while someone's in heat, and that's that it doesn't happen unless it was fully discussed beforehand."

Loki's eyes widened. "That's not–"

"I'm not Æsir," Tony interrupted, certain he knew what Loki was about to say. "And I'm not Chitauri, either," he added, making an educated guess as to who had handled Loki's last heat. By the way the god tensed and his eyes closed with shame, Tony knew he'd guessed right, and his stomach rolled with a sick sort of fury. "I'm Tony Stark," he continued, keeping his voice steady, "and Tony Stark has rules about taking advantage. When you're in heat, you can't make a proper choice, your instincts won't let you. In the park, when your heat was still just coming on, you told me no. Nothing you do until your heat is over will _ever_ mean yes. Do you understand?"

Loki gave a great shudder and leaned over, sagging against Tony and pressing his nose against the human's collarbone. "Thank you," he whispered.

Tony closed his eyes and shifted so he could wrap his arm around the god's shaking shoulders. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he whispered into the black hair that tickled his lips.

It was going to be a long month.

-0-

Loki kept a constant contact with Tony all day, seeming much calmer when the contact was skin-on-skin. Tony took off his shirt as soon as Bruce and Steve left, simplifying things for them both, and Loki ended up taking a nap curled against him while Tony liquefied his mind via daytime television.

He called out for dinner, ordering them a pizza to share. There was some limited food in the pantry, and a couple of perishables in the fridge, which Steve must have ordered before Tony arrived that afternoon, but Tony's 'cooking' skills were limited to coffee and pasta; nothing he could rightly serve someone going through their heat. (Not that pizza was much better, but it was the first number that came up on his phone when he started thinking about ordering something.)

Loki turned his nose up at the pizza when Tony first opened the box. Tony rolled his eyes at the god and happily got himself a slice to eat. Within a couple minutes, Loki gave in and tried a slice. He then proceeded to devour a good two-thirds of the pie.

"I'm going to count pizza as a win," Tony decided as Loki curled back up against him, eyeing Tony's last slice. Tony, very determinedly, didn't give in.

(He totally did.)

With the last of the pizza finished, they settled back in for Loki to continue his nap while Tony stared blankly at the television. He wanted to be working on a project, but the movement required to work on even just blueprints would have upset Loki. And, really, Tony was finding the constant physical contact a bit too comfortable to fully consider shifting them so he could work.

Tony was just dozing off himself when Loki let out a helpless little moan and shifted against him. He jerked to full wakefulness when his instincts started jumping up and down, because something about Loki's scent had changed. It was too subtle for Tony's human biology to fully understand, to fully figure out what the change signified, but Tony remembered what Loki said about his heat being two parts.

Loki's hand cupped the front of Tony's trousers and he grabbed the hand, pulling it away. "No," he said, voice edged with all the steel that he could muster.

Loki let out a whine and tugged his hand as though making an attempt to get it free, but not trying hard enough to actually do so.

In response, Tony grabbed Loki's other wrist in his free hand and moved both hands so they were touching the god. "Look at me," he ordered.

Loki shook his head and whined again.

"Look. At. Me."

Eyes dull with an all-consuming need met Tony's.

Tony took a deep breath and gave a gentle squeeze to the wrists he still held. "You can touch yourself. You can touch me, but your hands have to stay above my waist. Understand?"

Loki shook his head, licked his lips, and whispered, "I n-nee– I need–"

"I know what you need. I'm telling you no."

Loki whimpered and leaned forward so he could press the crown of his head to one side of the arc reactor.

Tony let Loki's wrists go and brought his hands up to card through the god's hair. "JARVIS," he called.

_"Sir,"_ his AI's voice responded from the speakers of his phone.

Tony closed his eyes and cautiously let his hands rub along Loki's shoulders. "Call Pep, tell her I need that black box in her closet that I'm not supposed to know about. And send Happy to pick it up from her and bring it to me."

_"Of course, Sir."_

One of Loki's hands slid very lightly along Tony's thigh, and he caught his breath before firmly reaching down to catch the errant hand. "Above my waist," he reminded the god, holding the hand against his abdomen.

Loki breathed a silent complaint against the bottom edge of the arc reactor, but obediently kept his hand against Tony's stomach, fingers splayed. The god's other hand was worryingly hidden from Tony's sight, but so long as he didn't suddenly feel it against his lower body, he decided not to care about its whereabouts.

In the time it took Happy to arrive, Loki didn't move. He let out the occasional noise of discontent, and his fingers spasmed against Tony's skin a couple of times, but he was otherwise as still as the grave.

When the door chime sounded, Tony let out a quiet groan. "Loki, I need to get up."

"No," Loki whispered, but he obediently pulled away so Tony could get up.

Tony shuddered at the easy obedience, hated it with a passion that surprised him, but he took what he could get and went to answer the door.

"She looked a little bit like she wanted to kill you, Boss," Happy informed him as he held out the small box.

"I'm sure she'll ply me with enough paperwork to make me want to kill myself, once I can get back to the tower," Tony replied drily.

Happy flashed him a knowing grin.

Tony smiled back, a little tired, but entirely honest. "Thanks, Happy. Sorry if I woke you."

"Don't worry about it, Tony," Happy replied easily. "So what's in–"

"If I told you, she'd be out for your blood, too," Tony pointed out and Happy paled. Tony resisted the urge to cackle and stepped back to close the door again. "Good night, Happy."

Happy swallowed. "Good night, Boss."

Tony closed the door, waited a moment for Happy to stop loitering and leave – the man was too predictable, really, and Tony loved him for it – then he started towards the bedroom. "Loki, come with me."

Loki moaned a bit, displeased, but followed Tony all the same.

In the bedroom, Tony set the box on the bed and frowned to himself as he fiddled with the electronic lock Pepper had foolishly put on it. (She'd hidden it well, but if she hadn't wanted Tony to snoop, she should have used a normal lock. Which she knew. So, really, she had no cause for being disgruntled with him over his knowledge of it.)

Loki settled gingerly on the edge of the bed, in easy reach of Tony, as he got the lock open. He carefully opened the lid, half expecting it to be booby-trapped, but nothing happened, so he let the lid drop back to the bedcovers, showing off the small collection of anal toys.

"Like Bruce said," Tony explained for Loki's confused frown, "when human women go into heat, they sometimes need to have something in them. When they can't find someone willing, they use sex toys. These ones are specifically for anal use."

"Oh," Loki breathed.

Tony took a firm hold of the god's chin and made him meet Tony's gaze. "The box stays in this room. I will not touch any of these. I'm also going to leave this room in a minute, and I won't come back in here. This room is yours, okay? I'm going to stay on the couch if you want me, but you're under no obligation to do so. You can totally spend the rest of your heat in here, if you want."

Loki just sort of stared at him. Gratitude and understanding were bright in his eyes for a long moment before the need took back over and his eyes turned down towards the box.

"Okay," Tony whispered and leaned in to press a kiss against the god's forehead before he realised what he was doing. He blinked at himself, then hurried back to the couch in the living room.

God, this whole thing was fucked up.

-0-

True to his word, Tony didn't enter the room again, and he didn't try to force Loki out. He did make sure to provide three meals a day, leaving them on a tray outside the door with a quick announcement that there was food there. Loki must have been eating it, since the dishes were always empty when Tony dropped off the next meal, but he didn't see the god, and he never heard the bedroom door opening.

The third evening of Loki's heat – almost a full twenty-four hours since Loki had started craving sexual intimacy, a little over forty-eight since the battle in the park – Bruce called with news: _"I had Jane ask Thor for anything he might know about their omegas, and it turns out he knows quite a bit."_

Tony sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Of course he does."

Bruce let out a sigh of his own. _"What Loki told us is pretty much true of all Jötnar. Their heat has two stages: The first few days are spent craving physical contact; the less time spent in that first stage, the shorter the heat, which Thor seems to think can last up to two months."_

Tony groaned. "Of course it can. Well, Loki moved on to the second stage last night, so I hope his cycle is going to be brief this time through."

_"Hm. Thor also said that a Jötunn's heat cycles on only every fifteen years or so."_

"He said he was in heat while in the Void," Tony pointed out, keeping his voice low. He knew Loki had said time was odd in the Void, but it couldn't be _that_ messed up; Thor had said it was only a little over a year between when Loki had fallen into the Void and when he'd reappeared on Earth.

_"I know."_ Bruce let out a strained noise. _"I don't know if this accelerated cycle is because someone suppressed his heat for so long, or if it's the cause of something that happened to him in the Void. I'm not sure we'll ever know, even if Loki will submit to testing."_

"Magic," Tony muttered, eternally irritated with what Thor considered to be a particularly advanced form of human science. (Tony thought Thor had been knocked around the head too many times. Bruce very politely agreed with Tony. Even if he rarely said so.)

_"How is he?"_ Bruce asked after a short silence between them.

"I gave him the option of locking himself in the bedroom with some dildos, and he took it," Tony replied frankly. "He's eating, at least, but I haven't seen or heard from him since I left him alone."

_"...do I want to know where you got dildos from on such short notice without leaving the apartment?"_

"Trade secret."

_"That's what I thought,"_ Bruce said drily, then burst out laughing.

Tony grinned at the 3D blueprints he'd been working on, the mask of the new suit staring back at him without humour. "How are things in the tower?"

Bruce snorted. _"Fine. Clint seems set on making sure Steve catches him in every compromising position Natasha will agree to."_

Tony huffed, more amused than irritated with Clint's assholery, for once. "Just Natasha?"

_"I think Phil was more embarrassed than Steve when Clint tried something with him, honestly. Phil will let you spot them, but he's worked out some sort of system with JARVIS to keep Steve from spotting them."_

"You know," Tony muttered, feeling a bit petulant, "when I asked JARVIS to warn me if I was about to come across Clint's idea of fun, it only worked about a third of the time."

_"Want me to ask Phil what his trick is?"_

Tony considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. I suspect Clint is bribing JARVIS somehow. I don't want to make Phil and Steve suffer because I changed something and JARVIS won't warn Phil any more."

Bruce made a quiet sound of approval. _"And you swore you'd never make a good alpha."_

"I'm a _terrible_ alpha."

_"You're the best alpha I've ever had."_

Tony choked on an inhale and coughed to cover the confusing rush of emotions that washed over him. "That's–" He coughed again. "That's not a high bar, there, Brucey."

_"Keep an eye on our omega, Tony,"_ Bruce replied, wisely changing the topic.

Tony smiled and glanced back towards the closed bedroom door. "I will. Let me know if there's any trouble I need to handle."

_"Steve or I will call you first thing,"_ Bruce promised. _"And I'll let you know if we learn anything more that might help you with Loki."_

Tony turned back to his blueprints. "If Thor starts talking about ownership again, I might just kill him," he muttered.

Bruce sighed, tired and with an edge that spoke to how trying the current events were on his own temper. _"I'll keep you posted."_

"Thanks, Bruce," he said and hung up. Tony allowed himself a glance at the closed door, then turned back to his blueprints, starting up a new project to let him, with any luck, get some forewarning about Clint's trysts without utilising JARVIS.

-0-

-0-

**A/N:** Because it confused Nim a bit: In actual wolf packs, only the alphas are allowed to mate. Betas are celibate, save for extenuating circumstances – like an alpha male/female who doesn't care to mate. Humans get that their betas are going to be fucking around on the side, and they might well be an alpha in another pack, but their alpha instincts say the beta(s) shouldn't be making eyes around them, and it gets their hackles up.  
Different alphas will let their betas get away with more, and the situation can have some effect on things, too, of course.

Hope that helps with any questions you might have had!

..


	2. II -- The Sunlight Through the Flags

**Title:** The Lightning Strike  
**Fandom:** Marvel (movie 'verse)  
**Author:** Batsutousai  
**Betas:** Runic, SharaLunison, Nimohtar  
**Rating:** Mature  
**Pairings:** Loki/Tony Stark, Phil Coulson/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Thor/Jane Foster  
**Warnings:** Alpha/Beta/Omega trope (to an extent), actual wolf pack dynamics, intersexual Jötnar, sexism, suggestion of previous dub-/non-con, mating, hurt/comfort, Loki just needs some love, Bruce really wants to go Hulk on Odin, Tony is confused about everything (but not as much as Steve), Clint is an absolute ass (& drags Natasha and Phil along for the ride), Pepper is kinda a BAMF  
**Summary:** Pack dynamics are confusing enough for the Avengers without adding the complete mess that Thor and Loki grew up with, but they aren't given much choice when Loki goes into heat in the middle of a battle and Tony's alpha instincts tell him he has to take care of his pack, enemy or no.

**II – The Sunlight Through the Flags**

About a week after Tony had joined Loki in the apartment, he went to switch the used breakfast plates with fresh lunch food, only to find the breakfast untouched. He blinked at the tray for a moment, then knocked on the door. "Loki?"

There was a moment's silence, then a tired voice mumbled, "Come in."

Tony pushed the door open, but didn't pass the threshold. "You didn't eat breakfast," he commented.

A dark head poked up, out of the nest of blankets on the bed. Green eyes blinked sleepily for a moment, then Loki said, "Tired," and vanished back into the blankets.

Tony bit his lip to keep from laughing and took a moment to scent the air. It certainly smelled as though Loki's heat was over, but... "How are you feeling?"

"_Tired_," Loki repeated, irritation in his tone.

Irritation was good, so far as Tony was concerned, so he finally stepped into the room. "Eating something will help with that."

Loki raised his head out of his nest enough to fix one disgruntled eye on Tony.

Tony smiled at him and held the tray forward. It was only a bowl of Spaghetti O's and some bread, but it was something. "Come on, Comet. Food is good. Food is fucking _awesome_."

Loki made an irritated noise, but reached out to accept the tray. It shook a little as he took it, and Tony steadied it as unobtrusively as he could. "Let _go_, Stark," Loki snarled.

"Have you got it?" Tony returned, refusing to let himself be bullied by the god who was clinging to him less than a week ago.

Loki curled his lip in a snarl. "You have fulfilled your obligations, Stark. There is no need to–"

"What? Take care of my pack?" Tony interrupted, narrowing his eyes.

"Pretend to have any care for me!"

Tony bit the inside of his cheek to keep from responding in anger. Once he was sure he could speak without shouting, he stated, "I get it that things are different in Asgard, and fuck knows I've butted heads with Thor often enough over everything, but here's something you need to understand about human packs: We don't always get to pick each other, but packs aren't something you can just..._turn off_ at will. Thor is part of my pack, and Thor still thinks of you as his brother. That means you're part of my pack. That means you're _my concern_. None of that ends just because your heat is over."

"And when I attack your pathetic world? What then?" Loki snarled, eyes wild.

"I'll knock you around like the errant pup you're acting like," Tony shot back, frowning. "And then, if you don't run away, I'll give you a drink. And probably yell some," he added as an afterthought.

Loki blinked, all the anger draining away. "I– What?" he breathed, confusion making his hands shake.

Tony took the tray away and set it on the table next to the head of the bed. He let out a quiet sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "Look. I get that, in Asgard, it's all a bit 'Every man for himself'. But here, on Earth, your pack doesn't leave you out to dry. No matter what you do, no matter how fucking pissed off I get at you, you're always going to be pack. I'm always going to worry about you getting hurt. And–" He grimaced. "Okay, I know, you're a fucking super person of unfathomable strength, with the ability to hold your own against the Hulk for a good two minutes, but you're also– Ugh. We don't really have a proper word for it."

"An _omega_," Loki suggested with such a well of disgust, that Tony wanted to hold him until his pain went away.

"That means something different to humans," Tony said quietly, and Loki frowned. The inventor sighed and shook his head. "I know Natasha can easily take me down, but there's a part of me that recognises that she has times when she's, well, compromised. There's a period of time, every few months, where she's less capable of protecting herself. She's got two mates who are more than capable of protecting her, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about her more the closer she is to her heat.

"You, though." Tony sighed again and offered Loki's blank stare a helpless little smile. "From what we got out of Thor, your heat cycle is completely erratic. I have no idea when you're going to need a week or a couple months hidden away. That means I worry twice as much as with anyone else. That means, when you let me, I'm going to worry over you. I'm going to steady your fucking tray and tell you you need to eat and offer you a drink while Bruce calms down enough to check your wounds from our most recent scuffle."

Loki let out a shuddering breath and looked away. "Get out of my room, Stark," he said, voice quiet and a little helpless.

Tony nodded and turned to leave. "I'll be on the couch if you need me," he threw over his shoulder.

Loki lasted a whole hour before he stumbled out of the bedroom, a blanket wrapped around his thin frame, and stopped at the end of the couch.

Tony glanced up at him from his blueprints. "You okay?"

Loki swallowed, eyes swimming with a fear that was distressingly familiar. "May I...sit with you?"

Tony smiled and patted the couch cushion next to him. "Absolutely."

Loki shuffled around him, careful not to touch, and dropped onto the designated cushion, perching uncertainly on the edge. Tony, very determinedly, didn't so much as glance at him, instead turning back to his blueprints as if he hadn't been interrupted. But he kept an eye on the god through the reflection of the television, paying just enough attention to his blueprints to make it seem like he was actually doing something with the suit, rather than just moving around pieces.

Slowly, Loki started to relax. When his back met the back of the couch, he jerked in surprise, shot a glare over his shoulder – Tony bit his lip to keep from smiling – and cautiously leaned towards Tony. When their shoulders touched, Loki jerked back, watching for any sign of disapproval from Tony, which he refused to give.

Loki leant against him again, spine tense, eyes darting between the side of Tony's head and the blueprint he was manipulating.

When he was pretty sure Loki wouldn't jump at a sudden movement, Tony slipped his arm around the god, lightly holding Loki in place next to him. Loki tensed again, then let out a quiet, helpless sound and relaxed fully against Tony, eyes sliding shut.

"Tired?" Tony murmured.

"Yes," Loki admitted, voice nearly silent.

Tony carefully leaned back against the cushions behind them, bringing Loki with him. "Okay. I'll wake you for dinner." He moved the arm around Loki's waist up to comb through the god's hair, absently noting that Loki needed a shower.

Loki let out a quiet noise of assent and dozed off.

_Tony,_ he thought to himself once Loki's breathing had evened out, _what, exactly, have you gotten yourself into?_

-0-

Tony called Bruce after dinner, while Loki was in the shower. "He's back to normal again. Or, well, something like normal, I suppose."

Bruce sighed. _"What happened?"_

Tony rubbed at the tip of his nose and glanced towards the bedroom door, which was shut again, running water from the shower just audible through the barrier. "He seems... I dunno, Bruce. It's like he's having trouble accepting that he's my pack. That I actually _want_ to take care of him."

_"From what I know about their culture, I get the sense that omegas are...disposable,"_ Bruce replied, voice too even.

Tony closed his eyes against the well of absolute _fury_ that flooded through him. "He's not. He's...he's a pain in my ass and an occasional threat to our planet and he's probably going to drive me insane faster than Clint because I just can't–"

_"He's pack,"_ Bruce soothed.

Tony ran a hand over his face, feeling so very tired. "He is." He sighed. "We need to figure out what to do about Thor. Loki's an omega, no matter how you look at things, and his heats aren't regular enough that we can just send Thor away for a couple of weeks every time one's about to come on. And I don't want to chance Thor getting to Loki when none of us are there to stop him."

_"We should probably involve Loki in this discussion,"_ Bruce pointed out.

Tony nodded. "Everyone needs to be involved in this discussion." He shook his head. "Loki's in the shower right now. Once he's done, I'll see about bringing him over to the tower."

_"Do you want one of us to drive over to pick you up?"_

Tony considered that for a moment. "Did you and Steve bring my car back with you?"

_"Oh. No."_

"We'll be fine. Assume an hour and I'll call you if it's going to be longer."

_"I'll let the others know to stay up,"_ Bruce promised.

"And make sure there's _caffeine_ in my coffee pot, Dr Jekyll," Tony ordered drily.

Bruce chuckled. _"I'll see that it's percolating when you get upstairs, Mr Utterson."_

"You're my favourite," Tony swore, grinning a bit madly. He always loved it when one of his pack-mates turned one of his references back on him.

_"I'm sure that will have changed by morning,"_ Bruce returned.

"Brucey, you wouldn't _really_ deny me my morning coffee, _would_ you?"

_"I'll see you soon."_

"Br_u_cey~" Tony whined as Bruce hung up on him. He took a moment to grin at his phone, then realised the water had stopped and turned to find Loki standing in the doorway of the bedroom, expression carefully blank and hair wet. He'd changed back into the leather trousers and jacket that he usually wore under his armour, and Tony spared a moment's sorrow for the return of the heavier fabric; he'd grown fond of seeing Loki in a blanket or the flimsy trousers and shirt he'd worn the first day.

Standing from the couch, Tony slipped his phone into a pocket and said, "We – well, just me, really – suggested to Thor that your heat was brought on by a curse or something, since you'd never had a heat before. He bought it, but the story isn't likely to hold for long. I don't want to chance Thor catching you off your guard again, which means making plans for any future heats. I'm going to head over to Avengers Tower and discuss our options with the others; you're welcome to come."

Loki blinked, his expression unchanging. "Why lie?" he requested, an odd note to his voice which Tony couldn't quite figure out.

"Honestly?" Tony asked with a shrug. "I was tired of him vacillating between his idiotic ownership mentality and brotherly regret. It was easier to get him to think you'd been cursed than it would have been to convince him Jötnar can be just as useful as he is. _More_ useful, in some regards, I'd think."

Loki's expression hadn't twitched, but he swallowed at Tony's last comment. "I see," he said, still that odd note in his voice, and turned towards the door. "Shall we leave, then?"

"Yeah, let's go," Tony agreed and grabbed the Mark V before leading the way down to the car, trusting that JARVIS would lock the apartment up behind them. Anything that had been left behind could be collected later, and Tony was already halfway intending to just let Loki have the apartment, should he wish it. If nothing else, at least Tony would know the god had a safe place to sleep.

The drive to the tower was absolutely silent, as was the trip in the elevator.

Bruce met them in the foyer with a careful smile and a mug of coffee. The latter was handed over to Tony while the former was turned on Loki. "How are you feeling, Loki?"

Loki met his gaze with that same blank stare. "I am of sufficient health, Dr Banner," he stated, tone stiff.

Bruce shot a sharp glance at Tony, who frowned into his mug. "Everyone else in the living room?" he asked.

Bruce nodded and turned to lead the way into the living room. Clint, Natasha, and Phil were all seated on the couch, a careful distance between them, and Steve was sitting in the chair farthest from the television, where he always sat. Bruce usually sat with Tony on the smaller of the two couches, but he picked Thor's usual chair near Steve's, leaving the couch for Tony and Loki.

Tony offered his friend a nod as he ushered Loki onto the couch. The god held himself stiffly in his seat, while Tony dropped into a comfortable sprawl next to him. "Any word from Hephaestus?" Tony asked of the room at large.

Loki's brow furrowed with a frown – the first proper reaction Tony had got yet, and he revelled in it, as minor as it was – but it smoothed over when Clint commented, "Jane called this afternoon to complain about his inability to keep his fingers out of her lab equipment."

"We wouldn't know anyone like that around here, would we?" Tony mused, glancing towards Bruce while Clint fought a smirk.

"What, exactly, do you intend to do with Thor, Stark?" Natasha demanded. "He won't react well to discovering you lied–"

Tony flashed her his most disarming smile. "Who says it was a lie? For all we knew, at the time, it was true."

"You knew it wasn't," Natasha pointed out, unmoved by his charm.

"Compounding lies isn't going to help anything," Steve interrupted, leaning forward in his chair. "We need to sit him down and explain that Loki is one of their sort of omegas. But we're on Earth right now, and that means Thor is going to abide by Earth laws."

"What, that omegas aren't property, just obnoxious?" Clint said.

"Thank you, Agent Barton, for that demonstration of SHIELD-trained diplomacy skills," Tony intoned.

Clint shot him his most obnoxious smile.

"I suggest we have this conversation via video conference," Phil suggested coolly. "If Thor chooses to react unfavourably, Loki will be out of his immediate grasp, and Dr Foster is the most likely person to calm him down."

"We'll have to brief her," Steve murmured, more to himself than the room at large.

"Not a problem," Phil promised, and Steve smiled at him gratefully.

"Honestly, I'd be more worried about keeping Thor out of _Stark's_ grasp, than Loki out of Thor's," Clint announced, wagging his eyebrows at the inventor. "Seriously, Stark. You looked like you were about to go for his throat every time he opened his mouth, never mind when he started _talking_."

"It's an expression Clint is _quite_ familiar with," Natasha added, shooting her mate a silencing look.

"Yeah, but when it's aimed at me, I run. Thor just kept talking."

"_Guys_," Tony interrupted with an eye roll. "_Focus_."

"Loki," Bruce said in the following moment of silence, and everyone turned to look at where the god was still sitting stiffly on the edge of his seat, "I wondered if you could clarify some things for me."

Loki's shoulders twitched in a suggestion at a shrug. "I can try," he allowed, voice as stiff as his bearing.

"Thor seemed to think you were a beta."

"Everyone did," Loki replied, a clear agreement, though his voice didn't modulate right.

Bruce paused for a moment, and Tony could see the carefully hidden frowns of concern in the eyes of all his pack-mates. "Right. Thor explained the differences to us. Well, to me; no one else seemed to have a patience to internalise anything. But, I have to ask, was there ever any sign that you might have been an omega? Anything that didn't _quite_ fit?"

"Men are never betas," Loki stated, a bland fact.

Tony sat forward. "Everyone out," he ordered.

All of the humans immediately climbed to their feet and filed out of the room, clearly having expected it. When Loki shifted like he might follow them, Tony reached up and brushed his fingers through the god's hair. Loki froze at the action, surprise thrumming through him for a long moment before, without any warning, all the tension left him and he pressed himself to Tony's side. Just like they'd been that afternoon.

Tony gave him a few minutes to relax before using the hand not in Loki's hair to motion his pack back into the room, certain at least one of them was watching. They filed back in quietly, returning to their previous seats, and when Loki started to tense again, Tony very firmly stated, "Stop that," and pressed his fingers a little tighter against the skin of Loki's scalp.

No one spoke, waiting for Loki to decide what to do next. At last, the Jötunn quietly said, "Women are always betas, always capable of bearing children. Betas are to be had, they never have, not like alphas. I would... I was happy to be receiving or giving, either. Both." Loki shuddered, one hand clenching in the back of Tony's shirt, where none of the others would spot it. "It is shameful, for a man to be taken. To _need_ to be taken."

"Your heat was bleeding through," Bruce murmured. "You couldn't go into a proper heat – whatever magic was suppressing it saw to that much – but it couldn't completely hold off the urges. The need to be the sexually – _really_, Steve, deep breaths – submissive partner, was it a constant thing, or intermittent?"

"Intermittent," Loki answered.

Bruce flopped back in his chair and removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. "There you go."

"Question," Clint interrupted, raising one hand like he was in school.

"Oh boy," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.

Clint dropped his hand into his lap, twining the fingers of his hands together over the gap between his thighs. "The way Thor always put it, Jötnar can carry children, same as a woman."

"Correct," Loki agreed cautiously, watching the archer around Tony's chin.

"But you're male."

"Jötnar are without sex."

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Bruce asked, "By that, you mean they have both sets of sexual organs? Male and female?"

"Holy fuck, that's got to be spectacular in bed," Tony breathed.

Loki's breath caught, quiet enough that Tony was the only one to hear it under Steve's agonised moan. "Tony, _please_."

"Sorry, Captain Prude," Tony retorted, gently scratching blunt nails along Loki's scalp. "I promise, my New Year's resolution next year will to be to think less with my cock, and more with that other brain."

Steve moaned again and covered his face with his hands.

"Don't worry, Rogers," Clint sing-songed, "we'll have desensitised you by then."

Tony pointed his free hand at Clint as the archer unlaced his fingers. "I will throw my coffee at you. And then I'll be twice as mad because you made me waste the only caffeine Bruce is going to let me have for the rest of the week. Hands to yourself, Rambo."

"No, Clint," Natasha and Phil intoned, eerily in sync.

"...I'm officially creeped out now, thanks for that," Tony muttered into his coffee while Clint very pointedly sat on his hands.

"Loki," Steve called before anyone could bring up something new about sex, "do you know who might have suppressed your nature?"

"The Allfather," Loki replied with absolute certainty.

Bruce jumped out of his chair and raced out onto the balcony, looking a little green around the edges.

Tony cast a quick glance around the room, calculated who would have the best chance of calming Bruce down before he Hulked out on the balcony, then sighed and dropped an absent kiss to Loki's hair. "I'll be right back," he promised as he slowly stood, giving Loki enough time to unfist his hand from the back of his shirt without anyone the wiser.

On the balcony, Bruce was clutching a little too hard at the metal edging on the glass retaining wall, green and peach chasing each other across his skin. Tony casually leaned against the glass wall next to him, turning his eyes out over the city. "I think I missed this view the most while I was stuck in that apartment."

Bruce let out a strained laugh and loosened his grip on the metal edging. "I'll bet. Hard to see Central Park from up here, though."

"Mm. Yeah, that wasn't a terrible trade-off."

They were both quiet for a moment, letting the whistle of the wind fill the stillness between them.

"His own _father_, Tony," Bruce said at last, decades of buried pain lacing the words.

Tony glanced at him, blinking away memories of his own father; it wasn't fair, really, that not a one of Tony's pack had got through life with a proper, non-abusive, wholly attentive father. (Save, perhaps, Phil. But the agent was notoriously reticent regarding his life before SHIELD, and Tony had always left those sorts of talks for his mates to handle.) And Thor was the only one that seemed to hold nothing but fond memories of his mother.

"Are you okay to go back inside?" Tony asked.

Bruce swallowed and stared down at his hands as though he could see the green of the monster inside of him creeping across them. "Don't ever let me go to Asgard."

"I think that's going to have to be a rule for all of us," Tony replied drily.

Bruce smiled at him, tired and full of so much old pain that Tony's heart clenched in his chest. "You want me to go in ahead? Make sure Clint is behaving?"

Tony let out an irritated growl. "If Clint is misbehaving right now, I'm installing a flag pole on the edge of this balcony and hanging him from it overnight. If he's lucky, it'll hold. If he's not..." He turned and stalked back into the tower, Bruce following him with a laugh.

Clint was behaving, but Loki had tensed back up on his side of the couch, hands fisted in his lap and expression just barely keeping to this side of hostile. Tony resisted the urge to sigh and indulged himself by gently smacking the back of Clint's head as he passed, then settled back into his spot on the couch.

To Tony's surprise, Loki barely waited long enough for Tony to get comfortable before he was curled up against him again.

Tony hummed and returned his hand to Loki's hair. "We should probably wait until tomorrow to call up Thor. What time does Jane usually get up?" he asked, looking to the SHIELD trio on the other couch.

"Between five and six," Clint reported, a fond twist to his lips.

Tony nodded. "Man in Black, eight o'clock, fill the lovely doctor in."

Phil nodded his assent.

"Eleven o'clock, everyone needs to be up and capable of holding a conversation beyond monosyllables. Bruce, that means coffee. _Real_ coffee."

Bruce sighed.

Tony considered the other scientist for a moment, then continued, "Steve and I will be doing most of the talking, but I want everyone there. Out of screen, so Thor doesn't feel like he's being ganged up on, but in the room." He looked around at them, noting their nods of understanding, then met Steve's stare. "I'll tell Thor that Loki is an omega, has always _been_ an omega, but Odin suppressed it for reasons none of us can guess at. If he starts spouting ownership claims again–"

"Point out that if Odin wanted Loki to be property, he never would have suppressed his nature," Natasha cut in.

Tony raised an eyebrow at her, then glanced at Steve. "I'm good with that explanation," Steve agreed easily enough.

"Good. We'll go with that, then. Explain that the Void or the distance from Odin or _something_ broke through the suppression and now Loki's body has gone into overdrive. That means no discernible pattern to his heats. Loki's got my permission to spend time in the tower if he wants, and it's entirely possible he could go into a heat while in residence. Thor needs to decide if he's capable of controlling himself, or if he needs to move out until everything settles."

"He won't be pleased," Loki commented quietly.

"Thor's a big boy," Tony muttered.

"Tony's house, Tony's choice," Steve insisted. "He says you've got priority, you've got the priority and Thor's just going to have to make do."

Tony nodded, then craned his head around until he could meet Loki's gaze, vaguely disbelieving as it was. "It's up to you whether you want to face Thor during any of this. If you even want to be in the same room."

Loki blinked and the hand returned to clutching at the back of Tony's shirt. "We shall see," he said, voice faint.

Tony glanced back around at his pack, pausing on Steve. "Anything I missed?"

"What if Thor wants to go back to Asgard?"

Loki tensed against Tony and the inventor gave a careless shrug. "I'm not going to stop him."

"What if Thor wants to take _Loki_ back to Asgard?" Steve pressed.

"I won't go," Loki insisted.

Tony met each of the other humans' eyes, looking for the determined nods – the silent promises that they would all stand between Thor and Loki if necessary – that were given without pause. When he got back to Steve, the soldier wore a grim smile as he said, "I think we're good."

"Good." Tony glanced at his half-empty coffee mug. "Right. Good night, everyone. I'll see you in the morning."

Bruce collected Tony's mug without a word as he passed, and Tony spared him a quick smile before turning his attention to Loki. "We've got, I think, two empty rooms that you can pick from," he offered. "There's one up on the floor where my suite is, one down on the floor Thor claimed. Your choice."

Loki scowled. "Really. Sleep surrounded by the buffoon's scent–"

"The room down there shouldn't smell a bit like Thor," Tony insisted. "The air circulation is state-of-the-art. Designed to keep anyone from smelling anyone else if they don't want to.

Loki's expression went carefully blank. "I would rather not sleep so close to anything belonging to Thor," he stated in that bland tone.

Tony nodded and stood. "Upstairs it is, then. Come on."

-0-

Loki was already up when Tony finally dragged himself from bed. The god had perched himself at the kitchen table, stiff as plywood and about as friendly. Natasha, Phil, and Bruce were sitting around the table with Loki, while Steve was frying something at the stove; all four humans were far more relaxed than Loki.

"Coffee's in the pot," Bruce offered when he caught sight of Tony in the doorway. "And, yes, it's caffeinated. Why I pander to your addiction..."

Tony gave a brusque nod and hurried over to pour himself a mug. Only after he'd gulped down half of it did he reply, "Because you love me, of course."

Bruce snorted and hid a smile behind his own mug, which looked to be filled with some of the green tea that he favoured when he was looking for his own caffeine boost.

Tony refilled his mug, then grabbed a wooden spoon from the sink to hit the vent over the table. "Get out of there before I have JARVIS turn on the fans."

Clint huffed from behind the venting, then wisely receded so he could come out somewhere that wasn't over the table. Phil saluted Tony with his mug while Natasha rolled her eyes.

Tony tossed the spoon back towards the sink, grimaced when it missed and clattered against the floor, then quickly dropped into the open chair at Loki's left. "So, how is everyone this morning? Getting along?"

Steve let out an irritated sound and paused his cooking to put the spoon back in the sink, but since he didn't actually say anything, Tony ignored him.

"Loki was asking about human pack dynamics," Bruce offered. "We've been discussing the differences between our cultures for the past two hours or so."

"You may know a bit too much about the subject," Tony informed him and Bruce rolled his eyes. The engineer turned to their resident god and asked, "Any interesting conclusions?"

Surprise flickered in Loki's eyes at being addressed. "I–" He cleared his throat and brought his hands up to wrap around the mug of berry-scented herbal tea that someone – most likely Bruce – had made him. "Midgardian pack dynamics are...entirely too convoluted."

"Yeah, well, Asgardian pack dynamics are archaic at best, highly discriminatory at worst," Tony retorted, rolling his eyes.

"At least we know where we _stand_," Loki returned, a sort of fire brightening his eyes. "You Midgardians trade between hierarchical roles like you do garments."

"Yeah, sorry we humans are so big on personal choice." Tony turned to give the god a searching look. "You know, from what humans know of you, I'd have thought you'd _love_ the chaos of our system."

Loki went very still at that, his expression blanking over. (Someone on the other side of the table let out a regretful sigh at Loki closing up again, and Tony very much wanted to mirror it.)

Tony shook his head and turned back to his coffee. "Whatever. Ste–"

"I do," Loki whispered and Tony's eyes jerked back to him. The god's eyes glimmered with a heart-breaking sort of sadness, and there was a vague twist to his lips that might have been a smile. "Would that I could have always known your way."

Tony's hand made its way up to brush his knuckles against the sharp edge of Loki's cheekbone. "Better late than never," he offered.

Loki closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, body relaxing into his chair.

The kitchen was absolutely silent for a long moment, then Steve very pointedly cleared his throat and a plate of homemade potato chips, drenched in ketchup the way Tony preferred them, was placed in front of him. "Seriously, Tony. Coffee on an empty stomach," he complained, eyes bright with the familiarity of the words.

Tony grinned in return. "Thanks, Steve."

Steve dropped into the open chair at Tony's side as he slid a large bowl of the rest of the potato chips and the bottle of ketchup across the table so everyone else could easily grab some.

"How many potatoes did you murder for our pleasure?" Clint wondered as he snatched a handful, then proceeded to stuff them all into his mouth at once.

"They're hot," Steve warned a bit belatedly, and they were all treated to the view of Clint waving a hand in front of his open mouth and running for a glass of cold water. "And I cut up seven."

"It is utterly unfair how good you are at these," Tony complained as he held one of the chips from his plate up for Loki to take. The god did so gingerly and made a face at the appearance, but bit into it nonetheless.

"If you'd stop trying to improve the stove every time I tried teaching you to cook–" Steve started.

"But it's so _slow_!" Tony cut in, pushing his plate a little closer to Loki when the god reached for another chip. "And you're constantly complaining about how often the pilot light goes out–"

"That's a problem in the kitchen's air-flow, not the stove," Clint offered as he dropped back into his seat and snagged another couple of chips for himself from the communal bowl.

"You know," Phil commented with a smile that was halfway between fond and exasperated, "an electric stove wouldn't have the same problem."

"_No_," Steve and Bruce chorused.

"Electric stoves kind of suck," Clint added, shrugging apologetically at his mate.

"If we got an electric stove, it would spend three days in pieces while Stark 'improved' it," Natasha pointed out, shooting a knowing look Tony's way. "Half the reason he hasn't pulled this one apart is because it runs on gas."

Tony shrugged, entirely unrepentant. Then he frowned to find his plate of chips empty. "Oiy. Bowl. Gimme."

"What are you, five?" Bruce complained, but pushed the bowl close enough to Tony that he could transfer some onto his plate. Steve passed him the ketchup, and shook his head when Tony squirted an excessive amount onto the chips.

Tony grinned his thanks around a chip that was piled with so much ketchup, it was probably more ketchup than potato.

"More like two," Phil deadpanned and Clint let out a loud laugh, emphasising the faint grins the other humans failed to hide.

Tony's second plateful of chips vanished as quickly – and inexplicably – as the first, but the bowl had also been emptied by then, and a glance at his phone said it was almost time to call Thor, so Tony sighed and stood, sipping at what was left of his coffee. "Right. Let's head upstairs."

Mumbled agreements followed that statement and everyone rose from the table. Steve and Phil cleared the dishes while Bruce ushered Tony out of the kitchen without letting him close enough to the coffee pot to refill his mug. Loki, Clint, and Natasha followed and they crowded into the elevator together. They didn't bother waiting for Steve and Phil, though Clint did give a jaunty little wave as the doors slid closed between them.

The conference room was the floor above Tony's, and had been set up to allow video conference calls with other Stark Industries offices, originally, but was now used more for video debriefs with Fury. (It had been unanimously agreed that the less physical interaction between the Avengers and SHIELD, the better. Especially once the Avengers had all moved into the tower and made Tony their off-field alpha.)

While they waited for Steve and Phil, the four humans already in the room set about moving the chairs to let them sit out of the camera's frame without making it obvious that there were chairs missing from the table, while Loki stood stiffly next to the door and watched. Everything was in place when the elevator finally spat out the last two humans, and Steve directed everyone to their places while Tony got the electronics in order.

When Thor finally appeared on the screen, Jane standing just behind his left shoulder, the conference room looked empty, save for Tony and Steve in the middle of the camera's view. Tony had hopped up on to the table, kicking his legs just above the floor, while Steve stood at parade rest next to him.

Tony gave a cheerful little wave. "Hey, Thor. Dr Foster."

"Mr Stark," Jane replied politely. "Captain Rogers."

"Is all well? Have you found a cure for my brother?" Thor pleaded.

Steve shifted, clearly uncomfortable, but Tony just gave a careless shrug. "Nothing to fix, as it turns out. Your dad went and suppressed his omega traits, and that magic's gone now."

Thor shook his head. "But, but Loki _can't_ be an omega!"

"Why do you say that?" Steve requested.

Thor frowned. "It is as Tony had pointed out: Loki is too capable to be an omega."

Steve turned to stare at Tony and the inventor buried his face in his hands, mumbling, "I had to convince him Loki wasn't an omega," to Steve.

Steve sighed. "Thor, help me out here. _All_ Jötnar are omegas, right?"

Thor nodded. "That's correct."

"And all omegas are, what, _useless_?"

Tony couldn't suppress a growl and Steve shot him an apologetic look.

"They have use only as bree–"

Tony's growl rose in volume and he glowered through the screen at the Asgardian.

"They have to have a society," Jane cut in, frowning, and Thor turned to look at her. "You said it's just the various Jötunn clans in Jötunheimr, right? So that means they have to be self-sufficient. They have to be able to hunt or grow their own food, to be capable of building dwellings and caring for their young. They waged a war with Asgard and you told me it was close for a while there, so they have to have some ability to strategize, some way of making weapons and caring for wounds. You also said they have a king, which suggests they have some form of hierarchy."

"Not so useless," Steve remarked. "Maybe they're not as technologically advanced as Asgard, but then again, the way you make it sound, neither is humanity."

Thor looked between the soldier and female scientist, almost adorable with how confused he appeared. "But, in all the stories–"

"Oh boy," Clint whispered, quiet enough that the microphone shouldn't have picked it up.

"–I heard as a boy, a Jötunn is only useful when they have been made claim of. And, then, only as a– As omegas should be useful," Thor corrected before Tony could start growling again.

"Maybe," Tony said, voice tight with disgust, "the Jötnar are capable of taking care of themselves just fine, but when an Asgardian comes along and claims them as some form of property, it's all they can do to just keep surviving. Maybe it's the Asgardians that make the Jötnar appear so incapable."

"It could also be tied to their heat," Jane suggested with a calming tone. "I mean, most women are barely more capable than a child when in the full throes of their heat. If the Æsir were only really using the Jötnar as, as – I'm sorry, Mr Stark – as breeding stock, they wouldn't know much about Jötnar culture. You come in, you go to the nearest Jötunn in heat, you–"

"We get the picture," Steve managed, face shaded a dark pink of embarrassment.

Jane offered an apologetic smile. "You're not going to learn a lot if you're just coming around for sex," she said to Thor.

Thor considered that for a long moment, then nodded. "Your words carry much wisdom, Jane," he admitted.

Tony made a mental note to send some money to Jane for any side projects she was interested in trying that SHIELD wouldn't cover. Because, seriously, the woman was an absolute God-send in dealing with Thor.

"Now that that's out of the way," Steve muttered to Tony, then raised his voice to say, "Thor, we need to know if you can control yourself around your brother."

Thor frowned. "In what manner?"

"No offence, buddy, but you went _kind_ of nuts out in Central Park," Tony commented dryly.

Thor grimaced at the memory.

"Either because of whatever your old man did, or because of his trip through the Void, Loki's heats aren't cycling properly. He said this is the second one he's had since he fell off your gay bridge–" Jane choked and Tony flashed her his most obnoxiously charming smile "–which is way too quick for Jötnar, right?"

"It– Yes. The warriors always told that a Jötunn's heat is every fifteen years." Thor's brow creased. "Did my brother say when his other heat–?"

"Bottom line is," Tony interrupted, having no intention in telling Thor that his brother spent his first heat amongst the Chitauri, because there was no telling how Thor would react to that, "we have no way of knowing when Loki's next heat is going to happen. It could be next month, it could be fifteen years from now. I told him he can stay in the tower, so there's a chance he might be here next time it happens. I need to know if you can control yourself around him."

Thor shook his head and shrugged. "I know not."

"Then you need to stay out of the tower."

Thor tensed. "The tower is my _home_!"

"Now it's Loki's home, too," Tony replied firmly. "He needs the stable roof over his head and a pack far more than you do, so if you can't control yourself in the event that he goes into heat again, you can't stay here."

Thor let out an angry growl. "I shall return to Asgard with Loki. Father can again suppress–"

"Absolutely not!" Tony snarled, jumping off the table for the added sense of stability the firm ground under his feet gave him.

Steve gently touched Tony's shoulder in an attempt to calm him. "Thor, Bruce seems to think that suppressing Loki's heat is only ever going to hurt him. And Loki doesn't _want_ to return to Asgard."

Thor snorted. "He is an omega and a sentenced criminal. Such choice is not his to make."

Tony was about five seconds from punching the screen just to make himself feel better, when long arms encased in leather wrapped around his chest, instantly calming his rage. It was only natural for Tony to reach up and grab for them, holding them in place. "Indeed," Loki commented lightly. "That choice belongs to my alpha, does it not?"

Thor had tensed, eyes wide.

"What say you, Anthony?" Loki purred, nuzzling Tony's ear.

Tony's mouth curled with a smirk, victory sweet on his tongue as he said, "Loki stays here."

Thor shook himself. "Tony is no true alpha, Brother!" he insisted. "He cannot provide–"

"Thor," Loki interrupted, voice smooth and tinged with amusement, "do take a moment to consider your words before you let them loose. In this Realm, in this tower, do you not defer to Anthony? Do you not see him as equal to yourself?"

"He is– That–"

"Either you have been unmanned, or he is Alpha. Which is it, _Brother_?"

Thor stared at them for a long moment, blinking rapidly. Finally, he closed his eyes and said, "I see."

Jane glanced down at Thor, eyes bright with concern, then looked back at the screen. "Keep us posted," she requested.

"We will," Steve promised and the screen went dark.

"I am so unbelievably turned on right now," Tony commented a bit absently as he traced his fingers along the folds of Loki's sleeve.

At his back, Loki relaxed and nuzzled against the side of his head.

"Does someone want to explain what just happened?" Steve complained as the others walked over to join them, expressions odd.

Natasha took a long, deep breath and raised an eyebrow. "Stark and Loki have a mate-bond."

Tony tensed, fingers stilling against Loki's arm. "_What_?" he demanded. When Loki started to withdraw, he tightened his grip around the god's arms and said, "Stop."

Bruce took off his glasses and carefully cleaned them with the bottom edge of his shirt, watching that instead of Tony and Loki as he said, "It's incomplete, but there's definitely _something_ forming between the two of you."

"I'm sorry," Loki breathed, trying to pull away from Tony again. "I didn't–"

"_Stop it_," Tony ordered, scowling at nothing. "Fuck. I'm not–" He let out a huff and focussed on Bruce. "I don't understand _how_," he admitted. "Pep and I tried for _years_–"

Bruce shrugged, slipping his glasses back on. "You said you thought you weren't ready. Maybe now you are."

_Or maybe,_ Tony thought to himself as he leaned back against Loki, forcing the god to stay, if only to keep from dropping him, _I needed to be needed._

"Well, on the up side, a mate-bond would make Loki less palatable to Thor," Clint offered cheerfully.

"While that's certainly true for humans, I have no idea whether or not it would hold true in this case," Bruce replied with a helpless shrug. "I've never heard of a mate-bond forming like this, before. It shouldn't even be _possible_."

Tony took a deep breath and squeezed Loki's forearms. "Then we take it one day at a time." Loki relaxed against him again, hopefully taking Tony's words as acceptance of the forming bond. "For right now, I really, _really_ need coffee."

Bruce groaned. "Of _course_ you do."

"As long as Steve and Phil didn't empty the pot..." Clint pointed out with a wide grin.

Judging by the apologetic look Steve sent towards Bruce, Tony was in luck. "Right!" He straightened in Loki's arms, pasting on his most shit-eating grin. "Last one to the kitchen's a rotten egg!"

Light danced at the edges of Tony's vision, and he was suddenly, impossibly, in the middle of the kitchen, Loki's arms still tight around him. He craned his head around and found a hopeful smile on the god's face. "Okay?" Loki asked.

"Useless my _ass_," Tony growled under his breath and brought one of Loki's hands up to his mouth to kiss, the action feeling entirely too natural. But, then, physical signs of affection were apparently already a thing between them, had been nearly from the start. "I'm keeping you forever," he informed the god, tugging him over to the coffee pot.

Loki's breath against the back of Tony's head as he let out a quiet laugh was cool, but the sound made an odd, warm feeling spread through Tony's chest.

When the others finally made it into the kitchen, Clint immediately shouting, "Cheaters! The both of you!" Tony burst out laughing and just let himself enjoy being with his pack.

-0-

Bruce wanted to run a few tests, see if there wasn't a way to stabilise, or at least _predict_, Loki's heats. Tony stayed long enough to determine that he was going to die of boredom if he remained, and that Loki would be fine without him, then made his way down to Pepper's office. She was on the phone when he poked his head in, and at her pointed glare, he slunk over to the couch and sat on it, holding his silence.

It didn't take her long to ring off and send a quick, "I'm indisposed until Mr Stark leaves," to her personal assistant – a young woman full of far too many smiles, but enough good sense that she didn't even _bother_ trying to tell Tony that he couldn't just walk right into Pepper's office. The assistant sent back an affirmative, then Pepper turned to Tony, nostrils flared, and ordered, "Start talking."

Tony swallowed and refused to duck away from her stare as he explained, "I don't know how, it was entirely unintentional, and I _swear_ I didn't have sex with him, but there's a mate-bond forming between Loki and me."

Pepper held his gaze for a long moment, a familiar strain in the lines of her face, then she let out a little laugh and closed her eyes. "Only you, Tony."

Tony relaxed enough that he could let himself sprawl out across her couch. "Electric locks really aren't the way to keep me out of things, you know," he commented with a shit-eating grin.

"I'm aware," Pepper returned in a tone that made Tony think he'd missed something entirely. "Where is he?"

Tony blinked once, twice, then his mind moved past her first comment and focussed on the question. "Loki? Bruce is running some tests." He closed his eyes and dropped his head against the arm of the couch. "Odin had been suppressing his heats, and now they're a complete mess. From what we got out of Thor, he's supposed to have them only every fifteen years or so, but his last one was less than two years ago."

"He may just be naturally irregular," Pepper pointed out, but Tony could tell by her tone that she didn't believe that for a moment. "It's uncommon, but not unheard of."

"In humans," Tony reminded her.

Pepper's chair creaked. "When do I get to meet him?"

Tony twitched, then glanced around at her. "I'm having trouble not touching him," he admitted.

Pepper sighed and shook her head. "Bring him down tomorrow afternoon."

Tony smiled, awash in relief. "Okay. How much paperwork do you need me to do to make up for...whatever I need to make up for this time?"

Pepper snorted and shook her head. "Go spend time with your mate, Tony."

Tony flashed her a wide grin and escaped the office before she could change her mind; he'd stop by his workshop for something to work on while he waited for Bruce and Loki to finish.

-0-

Dinner was just winding down – and Tony was realising he and Loki needed to discuss sleeping arrangements for the night – when JARVIS let out an odd crackling noise and all the lights went out.

"What the _fuck_!" Clint shouted.

"Security breach," Tony reported grimly as he thoughtlessly tugged off his shirt so they had a bit of light; there was something to be said for having a flashlight installed in your chest. "There should be two flashlights in the left-most drawer."

"Got them," Natasha reported over the sound of a drawer opening.

Next to Tony, a ball of green flames started to grow in Loki's palm, giving the familiar blue glow of the arc reactor's light a green tinge.

"Natasha, Phil, Clint, lower floors. Make sure the civilians are out of the way of any danger," Steve ordered as Natasha found the flashlights.

"Got it," Phil agreed as Natasha tossed Clint the second light and they turned to leave the kitchen.

"Bruce, Tony, we need to get the power back up."

Bruce and Tony traded frowns. "The back-up generators should have kicked on by now," Tony commented.

Bruce nodded. "I can go check on them. You need to get down to the arc reactor and figure out why it kicked off."

"Loki, go with Bruce," Steve ordered. "Tony, I'm with you."

"Long trip down," Tony warned as he rubbed at the back of Loki's neck, uncertain if he was trying to reassure himself or the tense god.

"Then we'd best get started."

Tony nodded and stood with the other three. "Right. Do we need to side-track for a light for you, or..."

"I'll manage."

They walked to the stairs together, then separated; Tony had put the back-up generators on the roof, the exact opposite end of the building from the arc reactor. He figured, at the time, that if anyone found a way to cut the building's power from the arc reactor, better to not stick the back-up generators right next to them so they could cut those out, too. Once Thor had moved into the tower, Tony had added some lightning collectors to keep a regular charge in the generators, since Thor often started a storm brewing when his temper got high or he left the tower for a battle, and Tony figured he might as well get some use out of the extra energy. As long as the generators had at least a certain level of charge, they could continuously power the building's emergency lighting, ensuring there would be no pause between the power going out and the back-up generators kicking in.

Or, well, that had been the theory. Either there was something wrong with Tony's power calculations, or whoever was attacking them had used two strike teams to simultaneously knock out both power devices at once.

Tony was starting to wish he'd taken Natasha's suggestion, all those months back, to always carry at least a handgun on his person, even in their home, as the three SHIELD agents did.

"I don't like this," he hissed out on a hard breath as he and Steve took the stairs at a dangerous speed.

"I don't like being separated," Steve agreed, voice tight. They all always wore the tiny, in-ear comms that Tony kept improving on, but with JARVIS down, and neither Tony's suit nor the quinjet active to boost the signal, they were pretty much useless. Bruce would power up the quinjet if the damage to the generators wasn't a quick fix, but Tony and Steve might well be out of range by then.

"I'll find a better way to connect the comms," Tony promised. It would mean compromising security, but, at the moment, he would much rather know he could keep in contact with his pack than worry that someone might tap into their frequency.

They were quiet the rest of the way down, save for Tony's harder and harder breathing. They did pass a few Stark Industries employees stumbling down the stairs by the light of their phones or small flashlights, but they always moved quickly out of the way for the two Avengers without a word of complaint.

When Tony burst past the currently useless security door into the arc reactor room, they were nearly blinded by the flood of light. "Well," he gasped out, using a hand to shield his eyes, "I guess...the arc...reactor is still...functioning."

"That's good, right?" Steve asked hopefully as he followed Tony into the room.

"_That_...is not," Tony replied, pointing to where a tech lay, face down, under a panel singed with some sort of energy weapon.

"Stay behind me," Steve ordered and started a quick ring around the reactor. Tony kept with him until they reached the tech, then knelt down to check the man's pulse and keep an eye for anyone thinking they might keep the arc reactor between themselves and the super soldier.

The tech was dead, and Steve's face was grim when he rejoined Tony. "Two more Stark Industries employees on the far side. Both are dead."

Tony clenched his jaw; Stark Industries was more Pepper's pack than his, any more, but it still put his hackles up to think that someone had murdered three of his people. "Any other weapons fire?" he bit out, standing to look over the damaged console. It controlled something minor and wouldn't cause any problems if Tony reconnected the power to the building, but the story might be different of other damage.

"No, but a panel has been completely ripped out."

"Show me."

The panel Steve had seen was close to the ground, rather than along the top of the control board, and had vomited wires and tubing across a fair chunk of the walking path. Tony took a moment to run a mental map of the electronics in his head, then let out a moan as he realised how much of a pain this was going to be to fix.

"Problem?" Steve asked, eyes running uselessly over the mess.

"This is why the power cut," Tony explained as he dropped to his knees and ducked his head inside the panel to better take stock of the damage. "I can give us partial power in about five minutes, but we'll have to take everything back offline tomorrow to do real repairs."

"Can you get JARVIS back online?" Steve asked, prioritising.

Tony pulled back from the mess inside the panel so he could find the wiring he needed for his quick fix. "Yes. Over by the stairs up to the reactor, there should be a small cupboard with a lock on it. I need the tool box in there. One of the techs probably has the key."

"Do you care if I break the lock?" Steve called back, already moving.

"Not in the least."

Half a minute later, Steve returned with the tool kit and Tony flashed him a grim smile in thanks as he pulled out the safety glasses and the handful of tools he thought he'd need.

"I'm going back into the stair well. See if the back-up generators are up."

Tony hummed his understanding as he ducked back into the panel. The generators wouldn't be able to keep the emergency lights running for the entire time it would take for this mess to be properly fixed, so he needed to do this patch either way. But, well, Steve probably didn't completely understand that. And the soldier needed to feel useful, Tony figured; he could hardly blame him.

Six minutes later, Tony pulled away from the panel and called, "JARVIS?"

There was a moment of static over the room's speakers, then the familiar voice said, _"I'm here, Sir."_

Tony let out a relieved breath. "I need you to, _slowly_, bring the most critical systems back up, starting with comms."

Steve came back around the edge of the arc reactor as the bud in Tony's ear crackled. The soldier winced, then barked out, "Avengers, report."

_"All floors above the forty-sixth are cleared,"_ Phil reported. _"Miss Potts joined us and we split into two groups to speed things along. And she and I are both fine,"_ he added before Tony could ask.

_"Do we need to keep doing this?"_ Clint whined, rather than reporting that he and Natasha were fine. Which, really, if he was whining, they hadn't had any trouble.

"I can't fully fix this mess until tomorrow," Tony reported. "That means compromised security and no elevators."

"We're still evacuating the building," Steve translated, then demanded, "Bruce, report."

There was a noted silence on the line. Tony swallowed and turned to the nearest computer screen to access the security tapes. Try and figure out who had attacked them. There were cameras up on the roof, but those weren't part of the critical systems JARVIS would be bringing up, so he couldn't just check to see why Bruce was being silent.

_"Black Widow, Hawkeye, meet up with us by the stairs,"_ Phil ordered. _"Miss Potts, Hawkeye, and I will keep moving down while Widow gets up to the roof."_

_"Understood."_

The security video appeared on the screen, but JARVIS helpfully reported, _"I am unable to access any information more recent than ten minutes before I was shut down."_

"Son of a _bitch_," Tony snarled and set about hacking into his own systems to find out what – or who – was blocking JARVIS.

_"On my way up,"_ Natasha reported. _"Five minutes."_

"I am going to find this asshole and rip him a new one through to his fucking _spleen_," Tony muttered as he threaded his way between his own security traps. This would have been _much_ easier from the computers up in his lab, the ones actually hooked into JARVIS' mainframe, but fighting with himself from down here was far faster than running back upstairs. If only he had his _suit_...

Natasha reached the roof before Tony could cut through the mangled code blocking JARVIS from the data he'd collected before the attack. _"Bruce?"_ they heard over the comms. _"Bruce is down, and I don't see Loki,"_ she reported after a moment.

"_How down_?" Steve demanded, voice strained with the memories of the three techs he and Tony had found dead.

_"Unconscious. Wait. Tranq dart. This looks like–"_

"_Fury_," Tony snarled as he finally got to that point in the recording. "I'll _kill_ him."

"Widow, can you get Bruce into the quinjet?" Steve requested, carefully resting both hands on Tony's shoulders.

_"Affirmative."_

"Bring it down to street level. Coulson, Hawkeye, leave off the evacuation and meet us at the entrance."

_"Understood,"_ the two men replied.

"Tony," Steve said, voice quieter, but no less firm, "I need JARVIS to broadcast an evacuation order to the entire building, then I need the building shut down once everyone's out."

Tony took a shaking breath and forced himself to look away from the one-eyed bastard and the group of SHIELD soldiers landing on their roof. "JARVIS," he said, voice tight with rage.

_"I understand, Sir,"_ JARVIS replied, voice a balm for Tony's temper.

"We need to get out front," Steve said as JARVIS' voice started listing directions for safely evacuating the building. The AI, Tony knew, would be sure to find and hurry along anyone who thought to linger or missed the lights going out.

"I know," Tony replied and let the soldier lead him out of the reactor room and down two floors to the main entrance.

Two security guards stood by the doors, directing stragglers out of the building and into the line of taxis that someone had thought to call; with the power out, no cars could exit the garage, so taxis would be a necessity to get many employees home.

Tony gathered himself enough to stop next to the nearest guard and ask, "Are the taxis aware that Stark Industries will be reimbursing them for the fees?"

The guard's eyes flickered down to the exposed arc reactor, then back to Tony's face, eyes wide. "I-I'm not certain, sir. One of the front desk secretaries set everything up, and she's already gone."

"Tony," Steve called when Tony walked over to the front desk.

Tony held up two fingers to suggest he was only going to be a couple minutes and looked around for the emergency protocols book he knew would be there. It was still open to the page he wanted. The directions above the list of local taxi company numbers ordered that all costs for taxi travel from and to Stark Industries, following an evacuation, be charged to the company. Tony managed a crooked smile at Pepper's thoroughness – the book had her doing written all over it – then he walked over to join Steve by the doors as the quinjet lit up the street outside, blocking traffic going both ways, but not the taxi line.

"JARVIS," Tony muttered into the comms, knowing his AI would hear him and keep his words from the rest of his pack, "remind me, once everything's settled down, to transfer funds into the company accounts to cover the taxi costs." The attack was made against _his_ mate, and that made it his responsibility; he had the money to spare, and he could always demand reimbursement from Fury. Assuming he didn't just kill the director.

_"I've made a note, Sir,"_ JARVIS replied.

Tony and Steve reached the open back of the quinjet just as Clint, Phil, and Pepper hurried out of the building, all three breathing hard. Pepper was carrying her shoes in one hand, and she didn't stop to put them on before she stepped out onto the roadway after Clint and Phil.

"I'm coming," she snapped before Steve could think to suggest she take a taxi home.

Steve's mouth twitched and he reached down a hand to help her up. "Yes, ma'am."

Pepper huffed, tossed her shoes onto the floor of the quinjet, and vaulted herself up without Steve's help.

"Let's go!" Phil shouted as Steve closed the back and Clint slipped into the co-pilot's chair.

Pepper dropped gracelessly into the seat next to where Tony had settled himself, one of Bruce's spare shirts shrugged on, but unbuttoned over the arc reactor. She didn't say anything, just set about putting her shoes back on, but she made a point to lean against Tony's side while doing so. And as much as he didn't want it to, Tony had to admit that it helped calm him down.

He still wanted to rip out Fury's good eye, though.

-0-

Fury was waiting for them when they landed, blocking their way into the main part of the helicarrier with a pack of armed guards at his back. "Gentlemen, ladies," he offered neutrally as Tony and Steve stopped in front of him. Pepper and a bleary Bruce were behind the two Avengers alphas, with the three SHIELD agents flanking them in a protective formation, weapons drawn.

"That was a dick move, Fury," Tony commented, cheerful voice belied by the ice in his eyes. "One for the record books. Really. Something could have exploded in one of the labs, and then civilians would have been hurt."

"Any civilian casualties are acceptable in the capture and detainment of a wanted–"

"No, you do _not_ get to claim the high ground here!" Tony snarled, Steve's hand across his chest the only thing keeping him from stalking forward and getting directly in the director's face, height difference be damned. "Loki was in _my_ building, had _my_ promise of security, and _you_–"

"The fact that you thought it at _all_ a wise choice to give asylum to a wanted criminal, Stark, shows entirely too well exactly how _unfit_ you are to be in a position of autho–"

"If you intend to give a dressing down to a member of my team, sir, you need to start with me," Steve cut in, voice tight, expression so hard it could have been carved from granite. "Tony was hardly alone in offering Loki asylum in the tower."

"Now I'm just disappointed," Fury said, shaking his head. "Agent Coulson, I'm putting you in charge of the Avengers until such a time as Captain Rogers is capable of leading you without Stark's insane ideas clouding his judgement."

"Sir," Phil said, stepping up so he could meet Fury's eye steadily, "there are extenuating circumstances that made offering Loki asy–"

"I'm aware that Loki is an omega coming into his cycle of heat," Fury interrupted, mouth turning down with a frown.

The other humans were so stunned, they stared at him in silence.

"According to the envoy sent from Asgard, Loki is slated to serve his reparations as is common to his species–"

"The _hell_ he will!" Tony roared, pushing forward against Steve's arm.

"This is a matter of Asgard's purview, and we won't be starting an inter-Realm war over the non-existent rights of one criminal," Fury returned, as unmoved by Tony's rage as Steve's arm was.

A hand with all the steel due Pepper's station rested lightly on Tony's arm and she stepped up between Tony and Steve, her gentle touch on Tony's arm almost _more_ effective at holding him back than Steve's firmer grip. "Excuse me, Director Fury, but I need clarification on one small matter, then we will be more than happy to return to the tower."

"Miss Potts–" Steve started, but he shut his mouth when she turned her sharp gaze on him.

"By all means, Miss Potts," Fury agreed easily enough, apparently calmed to know that _someone_ retained their senses in regard to the escaped god.

"What, exactly, are the legalities involved when the omega in question is one of a partially formed mate-bond?"

Fury went very, very still. His nostrils flared, seeking the changed scent that the harsh winds cutting across the open landing pad had kept from him. His eye eventually zeroed in on Tony's bared teeth, a grim understanding stretching across his scarred face. "This way," he allowed and turned to lead them into the closed hallways of the base.

Tony and Pepper took the lead, with Steve dropping back to assist Bruce, should the other man require it, as he was still not completely recovered from the tranquilliser SHIELD had hit him with. Phil, Natasha, and Clint were at the rear, gifting those members of SHIELD they knew with tight nods, but making no move to ease the tightly coiled threat each of them wore like a glove, even in the place of their employment. Behind them, two SHIELD guards walked along with uncertain steps, guns clutched too tightly against their chests.

Loki was being held in one of the more basic cells, wrists held tightly together in front of him with cuffs that had no give, mouth covered over with a gag very like the one Thor had brought with him last time he'd had to drag Loki back to Asgard. A man who vaguely recalled Thor in the shape of his face and his colouring, yet lacked the Thunderer's massive bulk, was pacing in front of Loki's cage, smile wide and edging on deranged in response to Loki's cold glare.

"–so proud that _I_ was the one to bring you so rightfully to your knees, something at which even _Thor_ has failed," the man was babbling as the door to the cell block opened for Fury and his entourage. "Perhaps, in reward, Father will let me be the first to impregna–"

Tony's growl was a feral sounding thing, and it quite effectively caught the attention of both non-humans. Something like relief flashed in Loki's eyes, but the blond Asgardian appeared only bemused by the interruption.

"Director Fury," the man said, an arrogance in his voice that made Tony rather want to tear his throat out.

"Prince Baldr," Fury replied evenly, and someone let out a quiet noise of surprised understanding behind Tony. "Complications have arisen which must be handled before Loki can leave Earth."

Baldr let out a disdainful little laugh. "Complications? What could _possibly_ have occurred that would require this omega to be kept even a moment longer from his duties?"

"On our planet, we have this things called _human rights_," Clint called from the back of the group before anyone else could speak. "They sort of require that you refer to other beings by their name, not their fucking _genetic disposition_."

"It is well, then, that he is not human," Baldr returned easily.

"Your people have mate-bonds, correct?" Bruce interrupted, pushing past Tony's tense form and meeting the Asgardian prince's stare head-on.

Baldr shrugged. "Certainly. But I have no understanding as to why this–"

"If Loki were half of a mate-bond, what would that mean for your intents to force him from Earth?"

Baldr let out a dry little laugh. "Jötnar can form no mate-bonds, Midgardian."

"That is untrue, Brother," Thor's voice boomed from behind the two uncertain SHIELD guards. They jumped out of the way, letting the Thunder God into the room. He stepped easily around the human Avengers, coming to stand peacefully next to Bruce. "All creatures of the Realms have a mate, and all may bond, should the correct mate come to them at the proper time. If it is that Loki has bonded to someone, that is most fortuitous and a cause for celebration."

"He is a criminal and must be brought to justice!" Baldr shouted. "Mate-bond or no, he must serve out his sentence for his crimes, as the Allfather deems fit!"

"You would break an alliance and begin a war over an omega?" Thor wondered.

Baldr stared at Thor in disbelief for a long moment, then let out a scoff tinged with panic. "What matter is it, these supposes? There is no proof of any such bond, and, as such, it is an exercise in futility to be debating what might or might not occur should one exist."

"But it does," Thor murmured, glancing over his shoulder at where Tony was being held back by Pepper and Steve, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. Thor turned back to the other Asgardian. "You are unfamiliar with these Midgardians' scents, Baldr, so you do not notice it, but the bond is there; Loki belongs to Anthony Stark, the Man of Iron."

"But– But, I– Th-there are no markings, Brother!" Baldr insisted, pointing at Loki, who had decided to rest lazily against one wall of his cell, entirely unconcerned at the proceedings.

Thor sighed. "You expect a Midgardian to be able to leave markings on a Jötunn?"

Baldr blinked, then hung his head in shame. "Oh."

Thor considered him for a moment, then stepped carefully out of the way and nodded to Steve and Pepper. They immediately let Tony go and he darted past the two blond gods without pausing. The door to Loki's cell unlocked at his touch and he tore it open as Loki came forward to meet him.

The manacles fell apart at Tony's touch, but the gag took a little more effort. At last, Loki was free, and Tony gently touched along the marks the gag had left around his mate's mouth while Loki's hands fisted in Tony's borrowed shirt, their foreheads pressed tightly together.

Tony still felt that itch to murder someone, but it had eased at finding Loki largely unharmed. Still, "Zapdos, if you don't get Mini-You out of here before I turn around, I will not be held accountable for what I do to him."

"Come, Baldr," Thor rumbled, amusement colouring his words, "I shall see you to Bifröst."

As Baldr's scent receded, Tony let himself calm further, leaving the marks around Loki's mouth so he could press his nose against Loki's neck, under one ear. Loki returned the favour, hands loosening from Tony's shirt and wrapping around his back. "I'm sorry," Tony whispered against the god's skin.

Loki gave a minute shake of his head. "You came," he said by way of response. The quiet amazement in those words made Tony want to send Bruce up to Asgard and just let the Hulk have free range for a few weeks.

A throat was cleared behind Tony and he tensed before attempting to pull away, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but Loki just tightened his grip and glowered at the woman who had come to stand in the doorway of the cell. "And you are?" the god demanded.

"Virginia Potts," Pepper replied evenly.

Tony peeked over his shoulder at her, pressing just the slightest bit closer to Loki. "Pepper..."

"Ah," Loki said, grip loosening slightly. "He's mine, now," he added, possession dripping from each word.

Pepper's lips curled up, approval in her eyes. "I think you'll do," she decided and sauntered back towards the exit of the cell block, calling, "Director Fury, you and I need to have a talk about the damages done to my business."

"Pepper is the _best_," Tony murmured, turning back to hide his face against Loki's neck.

The god let out a faint, noncommittal hum as Steve asked, "Miss Potts? Did you need for us to wait to take you home?"

"No. Director Fury can have someone take me back to Manhattan. It's been a long day for everyone, and it's probably best if you all leave before something happens."

"Not a bad point," Bruce agreed.

"Can we even return to the tower for the night?" Steve asked. "Tony?"

Tony sighed and disengaged himself from Loki so he could step out of the cell and see his pack. The god followed after, wrapping his arms back around the human from behind, as though determined to maintain contact as much as possible. "We'll have to severely limit power use, and getting the generators back online will help. If we all keep to doing nothing more than sleeping, maybe Steve making a team breakfast in the morning, it should be fine. And I'll make fixing the connections a priority, but even if I get up at six, I can't promise full power until lunchtime." He glanced up at Pepper, who was glaring at the stiff-faced Fury. "It might be easier all around if we pick up the necessities, then spend the night at a couple of empty company apartments."

"Can you arrange it?" Pepper asked him, looking away from Fury.

"Yeah, no problem."

Pepper nodded. "Call me as soon as the power is back up tomorrow, please."

"I will."

Pepper left with Fury, leaving the Avengers and Loki standing alone in the cell block. Steve cleared his throat. "Back out to the quinjet, then?" he suggested, and they all made noises of affirmation.

They returned to the quinjet, and it wasn't until they were in the air that Tony thought to ask, "How did Thor know where we were?"

"I texted Dr Foster as soon as we knew there was an Asgardian component involved, told her to send him along," Natasha admitted. "I hoped they'd bow to the ruling of their prince."

"Not an unreasonable assumption," Loki offered. "There are very few in Asgard who would deny Thor's word, and none of those are trusted enough by Odin to be sent after me."

"Keep on Pikachu's good side, got it," Tony muttered. His pack laughed quietly in his ear through the comms, while Loki just sighed and pressed a little closer to him. Tony reached up and took out the transmitter for a bit of privacy so he could say, "I was going to let you have that apartment, anyway, so that'll work out for you–"

"Us," Loki insisted, eyes glinting with equal parts uncertainty and insistence.

Tony smiled, his question answered before he could even ask it. "Us," he agreed and put the transmitter back in his ear. He'd have to bring JARVIS online enough to find the others apartments, but at least he and Loki were settled for the night.

..


	3. III -- Daybreak

**Title:** The Lightning Strike  
**Fandom:** Marvel (movie 'verse)  
**Author:** Batsutousai  
**Betas:** Runic, SharaLunison, Nimohtar  
**Rating:** Explicit  
**Pairings:** Loki/Tony Stark, Phil Coulson/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Thor/Jane Foster  
**Warnings:** Alpha/Beta/Omega trope (to an extent), actual wolf pack dynamics, intersexual Jötnar, sexism, suggestion of previous dub-/non-con, mating, hurt/comfort, Loki just needs some love, Bruce really wants to go Hulk on Odin, Tony is confused about everything (but not as much as Steve), Clint is an absolute ass (& drags Natasha and Phil along for the ride), Pepper is kinda a BAMF  
**Summary:** Pack dynamics are confusing enough for the Avengers without adding the complete mess that Thor and Loki grew up with, but they aren't given much choice when Loki goes into heat in the middle of a battle and Tony's alpha instincts tell him he has to take care of his pack, enemy or no.

**III – Daybreak**

Tony and Loki – to the surprise of all that knew them, had anyone bothered to ask, rather than just _assume_ – had gone to the apartment and done nothing more sexual than stripping to their underwear and curling up on the bed together, Tony the big spoon to Loki's little spoon.

For breakfast, they went out to a burrito place that Tony had ordered from most mornings during the week of Loki's heat, then made for Stark Industries. Having Loki there meant Tony didn't have to manage the stairs between the reactor and the generator, and the god didn't seem to mind teleporting Tony up to the top of the building to repair that damage, then back down to the reactor to get to work.

Loki was bored for all of about thirteen minutes before Tony realised he would have to keep his mate amused while he worked. He knew there were correlations between human science and Asgardian magic, and he knew Loki was an accomplished... Magician was, perhaps, a bit grade-school, and wizard was very Harry Potter, but Tony was having trouble thinking up other words for magic-wielding characters, given his preference for technology.

In the end, it didn't really matter what sort of word he used for Loki's abilities, the god was definitely intrigued – almost _excited_, Tony thought – about learning more about Tony's work. Tony didn't mind giving explanations; he knew it could only help if they had something to talk about that interested them both. And the fact was, Loki was brilliant and a quick learner and Tony had never really had someone – other than Bruce, whose focus was more biological than technical – who was honest-to-God interested in the most minuet aspects of his work.

(For a moment, one brief, shining moment between two minor repairs in a long line of them, Tony realised he was giving a man on SHIELD's watch list lessons in using human technology on a level that even Tony, himself, would be hard-pressed to combat. But then he waved the thought away, decided he didn't care what _might_ happen, and kept right on talking.)

With Loki providing even so minor a distraction – and JARVIS finding a way to overload the circuit Tony had been working with, for all that there _shouldn't have been any power getting to it_, in an attempt to remind him that lunch was a necessity for the continuation of his creator's good health, and Loki taking the hint when Tony would have just brushed it off – it was just past three in the afternoon before Tony felt secure in his work. He shoved all the panels closed first, checking to make sure there weren't any errant wires crossed in the wrong places, then slowly fed power back into the building.

JARVIS returned mostly good news as everything flickered back to life. There was a minor hiccup when turning power on in one of the labs on the seventy-second floor caused a minor explosion – "_This_ is what I was saying. You can't just _cut_ all the power to a building like Stark Industries and expect everything will be fine," Tony muttered, half to Loki, half to Fury's absence – but the damage was quickly contained by the emergency robot crew, and after pausing the power return for eight minutes, JARVIS gave the all-clear.

By four, everything was back online and running smoothly. Tony immediately rang Pepper, as promised, while he and Loki put away all the spare parts and tools scattered around the walkway and consoles. "Hey, Pep. Power's back up, but JARVIS is suggesting we keep the building mostly shut down until tomorrow morning, just to be sure."

_"Complications from turning everything back on?"_ Pepper asked, concern heavy in her voice.

Tony shrugged his shoulder, pausing to untangle a couple of wires from a hammer that he couldn't _begin_ to imagine the point of, given that he hadn't needed to hammer anything. (He supposed he might have repurposed the claw as a wire-stripper at one point, once he realised that using his teeth made Loki nervous.) "Minor explosion in one of the tech labs – JARVIS handled it, no damage to structural stability and _please_ don't start lecturing me about personal safety again – and some chemicals left out in two of the bio labs are making for some interesting smells in the duct system. JARVIS is certain it's nothing lethal, but we've apparently got enough staff who are sensitive to strong smells that it would be easier for everyone involved if we just let the air filtration systems run overnight to clean everything out."

_"It would help with stale air, too,"_ Pepper admitted.

"Oh, come _on_. The building hasn't even been down for a _day_." Tony huffed and muttered, "_Stale air_."

He could practically _hear_ Pepper rolling her eyes at him. _"Have JARVIS send out a mass email and text to let everyone know the building will reopen tomorrow morning at six. Anyone attempting to gain access to the building before then will be spending time at the nearest precinct."_

"Way to be harsh, Ms Potts," Tony teased. Before she could tell him to shut up, he called up, "Got that, JARVIS?"

_"I am composing the message now,"_ JARVIS reported. _"There are three employees who request updates be given through the telephone. Shall I make those calls, or will you be seeing to them yourself, Ms Potts?"_

Pepper was quiet for a brief moment, then she replied, _"I think I know who they are. Send the numbers to me, JARVIS, and I'll handle it."_ She sighed and tiredly added, _"I need to do __**something**__."_

"You can call Fury up and yell at him for thoughtlessly causing an explosion?" Tony suggested a little helplessly; he knew what it was like to feel useless when you usually didn't have enough hours in the day to finish everything you needed to do.

At his side, Loki let out a quiet, amused huff and curled an arm around Tony's waist, drawing the human against him. Tony allowed it without complaint, leaning against his mate like it was one hundred percent natural and not nearly as new a thing as it really was.

_"I might just,"_ Pepper replied drily, and Tony couldn't tell from her tone if she was actually considering it or not.

He hoped she did. And that JARVIS recorded the call.

_"Are you keeping the Avengers out of the tower as well?"_

Tony considered that for a moment, glancing up at the full-size arc reactor, as though it held the correct answer. The labs that had caused a stink were far enough away from the Avengers living quarters that there shouldn't be anything up there to bother them, and none of them had a particularly over-sensitive sense of smell.

Still. There were some chances Tony wasn't sure he could take with his pack, not when he didn't have to. "I probably will," he decided. "We'll all trickle in sometime tomorrow. Freak out lobby security." The last was Clint's favourite pastime, and Natasha and Phil both seemed to derive some measure of silent pleasure – Tony would almost call it _glee_, really – on the rare occasion they found cause to go through the lobby.

Pepper sighed, resigned to the difficulties inherent in letting the Avengers reside in the same building as a multi-billion dollar multinational corporation. Though, really, such things as terrorised security guards and lab techs who thought Tony and Bruce were _gods_ were small prices to pay, all things considered; barring events like SHIELD getting a stick shoved up their ass by an Asgardian with a grudge, Avengers Tower was the most secure of the seven locations Stark Industries claimed majority control over, and neither Pepper nor Tony could pretend that wasn't due entirely to the presence of the superhero team claiming the upper floors as their own.

_"Let me know when you get in, please,"_ Pepper requested. _"There are some things you need to look over after this mess, and we should discuss procedure any for future occurrences, especially in the event that you aren't in the building."_

Tony grimaced. "I need to have a talk with Phil. See if we can't work in some sort of secure way to fucking _warn_ us if SHIELD is trying to cause trouble again. But, I know, you're right. There is a very limited number of people with sufficient knowledge of the arc reactor systems, and if one of us isn't nearby when something goes wrong..."

It could have been worse. It wasn't _easy_ to overload the reactor – Tony had put redundancies on top of redundancies in place after Obie's treason – but it could be done if one was determined enough and Tony couldn't get in fast enough to shut it down. In a low-rise building, like in Los Angeles, the damage would be upsetting, but nothing like if one blew out one of the bottom floors of a high-rise like Avengers Tower.

There was nothing like SHIELD coming in to steal his mate to remind Tony that, for all his preparations, he could never _actually_ be prepared for every eventuality.

_"Tomorrow,"_ Pepper insisted. _"Bring Phil with you and we can __**all**__ discuss it."_

"Right," Tony agreed, turning closer to Loki, a subtle hint that the god should wrap his other arm around the human, which he did. "I'll see you tomorrow, Pepper."

_"Remind your mate that I need you at least __**semi**__-functional tomorrow, so he needs to let you get __**some**__ sle–"_

"Oh my _God_, Pep. Whatever happened to ripping heads off?"

Pepper was silent for a moment, then she admitted, _"He suits you,"_ and hung up.

Tony stared at his phone for a moment, as though uncertain if it was some sort of alien communication device to an alternate reality, then shook his head and dialled Steve's number, tugging back from Loki as he did so and motioning that they should leave. "Pack dinner tonight?" he asked the god as he pressed the 'call' button.

Loki considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "I am not against such."

Tony nodded, then grinned as Steve answered the phone and set about debating which restaurant they could all stand for the evening. (And had clothing for, because Phil was probably the only one who'd have thought to grab a serviceable suit for the extended leave from the tower.)

-0-

The pack dinner had gone well. There was some moaning at the insistence that they wouldn't be able to return to the tower that night, but security concerns were not unfamiliar to any of them. At least Tony could continue to give them comfortable beds and a roof over their heads. (He very pointedly pretended Bruce wasn't giving him that look that said 'I _told_ you that you make a brilliant alpha'.)

It was when they were standing on the pavement outside the restaurant that Steve brought up a concern. He and Bruce must have discussed it ahead of time, because the good doctor had distracted Loki out of hearing range, leaving Steve room to quietly explain, "Thor came by this morning."

Tony frowned and glanced towards Loki, mentally noting the preplanning put into making sure the god wouldn't overhear this conversation. "What did he need?" he asked, looking back to Steve.

Steve shook his head. "Dr Foster was apparently in the middle of something when we sent him out there. She's been working on it in bits and pieces when she could, but Thor knows he's been disrupting her work. He was hoping he could stay in New York until she's at a spot that he can more easily interrupt for an extended stay."

"He came to you?" Tony murmured, a little surprised. Thor didn't _care_ for the arrangement, but he usually followed the rest of them in deferring to Tony at home and Steve in the field. Since this was more of a home situation...

"He went to the tower first. JARVIS directed him to Bruce and me. You _were_ with Loki."

Tony nodded and ran his fingers along the grain of his beard for a moment. "Well, he's certainly welcome to stay in the apartment you and Bruce are staying in, or I can get him one of his own. I don't mind him staying in the city–"

"And _I_ would prefer it, after this last event, honestly," Steve cut in.

Tony grimaced and quickly turned his thoughts away from how things could have gone if Thor hadn't shown up when he had. "Agreed. I just don't want him near Loki if he's not sure he can control himself."

Steve nodded. "I know. Bruce thinks, though, that since Thor could sense the bond between you and Loki, he might be a bit calmer if Loki goes into heat again, but he suggests we wait until the bond solidifies before trying anything."

Tony glanced towards Loki again. The god was starting to tense up, like he always seemed to do when Tony wasn't there, but he was smiling at something Clint was saying. "And if a fully formed bond doesn't put him off?" He closed his eyes. "I can't hold Thor back without my suit, Steve."

"Bruce and I both promise to be there, and he's willing to bring out the Hulk to help, if it's necessary."

"Best set up this meeting in the park, then," Tony muttered and Steve smiled at him. "Alright. I'll let Loki know. Tomorrow, Bruce can see about trying to find out more about his heat while Phil and I are meeting with Pepper. Can you handle setting Thor up? JARVIS is back up to full strength, so he shouldn't have any trouble helping you find another apartment for him, if it's too cramped."

"We'll manage," Steve promised, clapping Tony on the shoulder, an easy sort of motion that would have sent Tony sprawling if the Captain wasn't so careful with his strength.

"Good. Fuck knows I have enough problems of my own," Tony returned wryly, starting over to the rest of their pack. As soon as he was close enough, he slipped his hand into Loki's, and the god immediately relaxed, leaning towards him ever so slightly. "Ready to go back to the apartment?"

"I believe so," Loki agreed easily enough and everyone offered their goodbyes.

Tony waited until they were back in the apartment, curled up under the covers of the bed together, before he said, "Thor is in town."

Loki's tense was so subtle, Tony might not have even noticed it if they weren't pressed so tightly together. "Indeed?" he murmured, voice carefully even.

"Mm." Tony pressed a kiss to Loki's shoulder, tightening his arms around the god's abdomen. "Apparently he's been in the way of Doc Foster's experiments. Seems it's preferable to be in our figurative dog house than the one she's keeping for him in New Mexico."

"...I do not understand that reference," Loki pointed out.

Tony breathed a quiet laugh into the god's shoulder. "Do they have dogs in Asgard?"

"Hunting dogs, after a fashion, yes."

Tony nodded. "Humans with their own house and a big yard will often have a small house built in the yard for their dog. If the dog behaves itself, it might get to spend the nights inside the house, especially if the weather's nasty. But if the dog's misbehaving, he or she will be forced to stay outside in their dog house all night, bad weather or no."

"Ah." Loki finally let himself relax again, turning his head slightly so he could look at Tony in what light escaped from where the arc reactor was pressed between them. "And where is Thor's dog house?"

"Steve's going to sort that out tonight," Tony offered.

Loki hummed in understanding and turned his head back into his pillow.

Tony allowed a moment's silence, trying not to trace his fingers against the god's skin, because he knew that would give away his nerves, and he was pretty sure Loki needed him to at least _appear_ calm for this. "Once our bond is solidified, Thor wants to try again. To see if he can be near you when you're in heat."

Loki tensed again and his head jerked around to stare at Tony. "And _you_?" he asked, something sharp in the last word.

Tony shifted back enough to let free more light and met Loki's eyes without flinching. "I want you comfortable," he said, unbending, and Loki relaxed, though he didn't look away from Tony's steady gaze. "But what he did yesterday, picking us over Baldr, that went a long way towards soothing my anger with him." He looked away then and admitted, "I don't like it when my pack is spread out like this. Less so since you just got kidnapped and Bruce attacked. I can make do – fuck, this is the first pack I've been a member of that both lives in the same building and isn't constantly apart for some business related reason that requires a multi-hour flight to reach – but I'm not particularly happy about it."

Loki shifted and Tony pre-empted the coming request by loosening his grip so the god could turn around and face him, which Loki did. A cool hand cupped Tony's cheek and he glanced up to meet the green eyes. "We don't really have packs on Asgard, not like here," he said quietly, the well of ancient sorrow in his eyes lit too-bright by the pale blue of the arc reactor's light. "When we were children, perhaps, but once Thor and I were old enough, we were given our own palaces and expected to spend any time not at feasts or on quests there. Æsir are very solitary creatures."

"You're here now," Tony whispered, pressing his forehead to Loki's and running his fingers gently along the god's spine.

"I am," Loki whispered back.

They were quiet for a moment, just sharing breath and space, fingers tracing over the skin of Loki's back and the edges of Tony's goatee.

"I don't know how to complete a bond," Loki said at last. "It's not– Bonds aren't..._common_, in Asgard. And I never thought to look for information on them."

_'I never wanted/thought I'd be part of one,'_ hung between them.

Tony swallowed, wondered if this hadn't come up during one of Loki's talks with Bruce, but he had no way to know for sure. "For humans," he explained, "mate-bonds are supposed to form during a heat, through sex."

"So we would have to wait," Loki assumed.

Tony shrugged. "Not necessarily, no. Bonds can form between two humans without one needing to be in heat, if they're both in the right frame of mind. And, well, considering our bond is already half formed..." He offered a helpless sort of half-smile.

Loki watched him for a moment before he slowly slid the hand on Tony's cheek down his neck, over his shoulder and along the edge of his chest, until those long fingers rested at the top of Tony's boxers, pausing when Tony's breath hitched. "Do you want–?"

"God yes _please_," Tony got out before he leaned forward to press his mouth to Loki's, the hand on Loki's back dropping down to grab at the god's naked ass cheek, fingers brushing against the fabric of his loincloth.

Loki pressed back into Tony's grope with a sound that was somewhere between a keen and a growl, his hand shoving under Tony's boxers and taking him in hand.

Tony choked, the touch like a shock to his system. Thirty years of fucking anyone who was willing to come along with him when he shot them a smile, and it had _never_ felt anything like that. Like– Like a connection of cosmic importance, or, or...

_God_. Touch that could scatter his thoughts. Right. Dangerous weapon.

Oh, but, holy _fuck_, if that was just a _hand_, what would it feel like to be _inside_ Loki?

"Lube," Tony managed against Loki's mouth, his hand on the god's ass shoving the loincloth out of the way.

Loki nipped at Tony's lip, his eyes impossibly dark in the light of the arc reactor, and he rolled them so Tony was half hovering, half leaning above him. "Not necessary," he breathed out, sounding just as breathless as Tony, but less like he was losing control of his thoughts. He let go of Tony's cock to make a motion with his hand, and green light lit up the room for a moment, the last pieces of clothing between them vanishing.

The moment's disconnection let Tony gather his thoughts a bit and he grabbed Loki's wrists with a growl, pinning them to the bed to keep the god from touching him again and scattering his thoughts. "I'm not taking you _dry_, Loki," he snarled.

Loki groaned at the show of dominance and tilted his head back to show his throat. "Check," he rasped out.

Tony slowly let go of one wrist. "Don't move that," he ordered and Loki jerked his head in a nod. Oddly certain that Loki wouldn't move his hand, Tony reached down and carefully pressed one finger into the god's opening, only to find it plenty slick and just relaxed enough that the fit would be tight, but not painful.

Some of the anger drained from Tony and he leaned down to nuzzle at Loki's neck just under his ear. "Magic?" he asked, using a finger to gather some of the lube from inside his mate for spreading on himself.

Loki let out a quiet whine as Tony's finger left him. "Yes," he agreed, voice cracking. Then, "Please. Sta– Anthony, _please_."

A part of Tony – an extremely _distant_ part of him – wanted to tease Loki, watch him fall apart under Tony Stark's sexual skill. But most of him, the part that had all the control, wanted to be inside his mate as much as Loki wanted him there.

So Tony directed Loki's legs to wrap around him and guided himself into the god's passage, gritting his teeth at how fucking _tight_ Loki was.

But, _God_, tightness aside, Loki was a fucking _perfect_ fit. Tony bottomed out before he ran into any resistance, balls pressed tight against Loki's ass, and the _feel_ of him, pressing _just_ tight enough, temperature just slightly cooler than Tony and working to combat the scattering of his thoughts.

And Loki, the little bastard of a god, was letting out absolutely _sinful_ noises of pleasure. He waited until Tony stopped before tilting his head down enough to meet Tony's eyes, a glint in his own, then lifted the hand that Tony had told him not to move, brushing it along Tony's throat.

Tony let out a low growl, feeling it vibrate from deep, _deep_ down in his chest, and grabbed Loki's wrist. "I _said_," he snarled as he slammed the god's wrist back against the bed, "don't move that."

Loki had a moment to flex both his hands, trapped by Tony as they were, then he _yowled_ as Tony pulled out of him almost all the way. Both hands twisted to grab at the sheets and he stuttered out, "P-Pl– Norns. Nor-rns _please_, Antho–!"

Tony leaned down and clamped his teeth around Loki's right nipple as he slammed back into the god.

Loki let out a scream that was nothing but pleasure and need, fingers scrabbling against the sheets, chest arching up against Tony's mouth as though seeking _more_.

Tony pulled back and let go of Loki's wrists, knowing he'd need better balance to deliver the sort of pounding his body – their _bond_ – was demanding. "Hands up, grab the headboard," he ordered as he braced himself and Loki better.

Loki did as ordered without a sound, something wild and pleading in his eyes when he looked back at Tony.

Tony didn't let himself think, just started slamming his hips against Loki's ass as hard as he could, digging his fingers in where his hand was braced against the god's hip and refusing to turn his eyes from Loki's. He wanted to see it, that moment when the god fell apart and became _just a man_. When he gave himself over to the pleasure.

Tony wanted to see the moment Loki became _his_.

At last, with a whine of submission, Loki's body went taut against Tony's, his eyes sliding closed, and something beyond the physical snapped into place between them, dragging Tony after his lover into a world of bright green sparkles and twisting blue triangles.

Blissful exhaustion swept over Tony so suddenly, it was all he could do to slip from his lover – his _bonded life-mate_, Christ – ignoring Loki's quiet noise of complaint, and curl against his side, nuzzling against his shoulder. "Sleep," he ordered, distantly surprised that the word wasn't slurred.

Loki's chest jerked with a silent huff, but he turned onto his side, spooning comfortably into Tony's chest, and his breathing evened out.

Tony followed him into slumber a heartbeat later.

-0-

Tony drifted for a bit upon waking, a part of him settled in a way it had never been before, and while he suspected that had to do with the completed bond, he couldn't be sure. And, to be honest, he wasn't sure he cared.

Positive thoughts; he was _happy_.

His phone let out the _Men in Black_ theme – Phil's ringtone – and Tony groaned before peeking his head up to figure out where the damn thing had ended up. Thankfully, it was almost in his reach, requiring only the slightest stretch before he could grab it and settle back down against Loki's back, eyes closing. "Someone better be dying," he growled as soon as the call connected.

Phil let out a huff of noise that was almost a laugh. _"Clint might just be,"_ he reported drily. _"I probably won't be able to get to the tower until noon. Ms Potts has suggested that a meeting over lunch might be an easier option, if you're amenable?"_

Tony sighed and pressed his forehead against Loki's spine. "What time is it?"

_"Not quite oh nine hundred."_

Tony resisted the urge to comment on the military phrasing. "Right. Twelve thirty?" he asked, knowing when Pepper preferred to break for lunch.

_"Yes."_

"Just remember to clean off any blood before you show up. If you put me off my lunch because of Barton, I'll be _most_ cross."

Phil let out a quiet noise of amusement. _"Noted,"_ he said in that familiar dry tone of his.

The line clicked.

Tony groaned and tossed the phone towards the far side of the bed, letting his arm fall at the end of the swing to wrap around Loki's chest.

"Good morning," Loki murmured, voice rough from sleep, as his arms came up to rest against Tony's arm over his chest.

Tony hummed. "Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't," Loki assured him, fingers brushing lightly against Tony's arm.

Tony was just starting to doze off again, lulled by the light touch, when Loki tensed. Tony immediately came awake, asking, "What's wrong?"

Loki took Tony's hand in his and directed it to a patch of skin directly over his heart.

Tony couldn't feel anything odd under his hand, and Loki didn't seem interested in speaking, so he sat up to look, moving his hand. His eyes widened when he found a marking in neon blue that resembled the arc reactor. "What–?"

Loki's hand came up and pressed against the real reactor in Tony's chest, which brought attention to the very new bright green colour light it was suddenly putting out.

Tony felt dizzy for a moment, terror zinging through him like electricity, but then Loki was pulling him down against his chest, pressing Tony's phone into his hand. It was _exactly_ what Tony needed, and he would probably question it later, after he'd checked in with JARVIS, because this was wrong, but _he was still alive_. He wasn't even breathing hard as he barked out, "JARVIS. Check my arc reactor."

The phone let out a chirp, the hum of distant machinery, and then JARVIS reported, _"I am sensing no change to the reactor itself, Sir, though there seems to be some sort of energy barrier on the front casing."_

"What sort of barrier?" Tony asked, relaxing into Loki's embrace and letting the hand not holding the phone trace the familiar shape over Loki's heart.

_"The energy itself is unfamiliar, Sir. I apologise, but I am unable to discern its function."_

"Thanks, JARVIS." He tossed the phone off the bed and leaned up to look at Loki. "Any ideas?"

A hand trailed up from his waist to rest next to the reactor, just brushing the metal edge when Tony breathed. "It's my magic," he decided after a moment of consideration, "but I'm uncertain as to the purpose for it. It may simply be a way to return this–" he tapped the new mark on his chest and Tony tried not to grin "–or it might be a protective shield of some form."

"There's no, oh, I dunno, _scanning_ spell or something?"

Loki's lips twitched, amusement glinting in his eyes. "You mortals and your ideas about magic."

"Hey!" Tony swatted him, but he was grinning too widely for _anyone_ to think he felt insulted.

Loki chuckled, a sound that was entirely too beautiful to Tony's ears, then shook his head. "In answer, no, nothing quite so simple. There are spells I could use that could give me an answer, but I am uncertain what effect they would have on your arc reactor." He smoothed his hand over the green light as Tony sobered. "I wouldn't take that chance."

Tony laced their fingers together, letting their joined hands press against the cover. "It's not that important." He let his mouth hike up on one side in a crooked smile. "It'll take some time to get used to the change in colour."

Loki tilted his head slightly, eyes glinting with mischief. "I like it," he decided.

Tony laughed and leaned down to kiss the god, mumbling, "You _would_," against his lips.

-0-

Both Pepper and Phil had raised eyebrows at him when he joined them for lunch, so he really wasn't all that surprised when the first thing Clint said to him when he got upstairs was, "How was the sex?"

Tony smirked at him. "You'll never know," he said before walking into the kitchen with the cupcakes he'd picked up on their way back. When Phil had looked at them askance, he'd shrugged and explained, "Celebrating our return to the tower." What he _hadn't_ told Phil was that they were expecting Thor for dinner, something Loki had approved before Tony called the estranged member of his pack, so the celebration was as much to welcome Thor back into the tower as it was to celebrate their own return.

"Clint, _no_," Phil hissed just before Tony could exit the kitchen. "You haven't been back two hours. _No_."

Tony paused at the threshold, considering his options. He could go out there, see how Clint was going to push his buttons today, and hope he could find something to calm him down fast enough to keep from actually strangling his pack mate. Or he could hide in the kitchen until Clint got bored – unlikely – or someone – Steve, usually, or Bruce if Steve was out – answered Tony's call for help.

And then Tony realised that he was actually _stopping to consider his options_ instead of just stalking out there and yelling.

"Only a little different," he muttered to himself and walked out into the main room.

Clint had pulled Phil down into his lap, grinning at his mate's unimpressed stare. They both turned to look when Tony stepped out, Phil with an apologetic expression, Clint with a taunting smirk.

The familiar fury didn't sweep over Tony, and he smirked right back at Clint, enjoying the way his eyes went wide and his mouth went slack. "Don't let Steve catch you two; I'm not sure who would die of embarrassment first, Agent Kay or Uncle Sam," he warned before whistling a jaunty rendition of _Jingle Bells_ and turning to go down to the lab.

"You're cheating somehow!" Clint shouted after him.

Natasha was coming through the door of the stairwell when Tony reached it, eyebrow raising at his out-of-season tune. "Your mates are having fun without you," he informed her, then slipped past and started down the stairs.

"Stark!" Natasha called after him, and he paused to look up at her. "Do I need to call someone to clean up blood?" she asked drily.

Tony took a moment to consider that, feeling unusually playful. "It's only a minor spill. You know where the paper towels are," he decided, then continued on his way. He waited to start snickering until the door had slammed shut behind her.

In the lab, he stepped up next to Loki and wrapped an arm around his waist, leaving it to the god to settle his own arm around Tony's shoulders. Bruce came over with an odd look on his face. "Clint seems to think you've been possessed," he informed Tony.

Tony grinned. "He had Phil on the couch. I didn't start yelling."

Bruce's eyebrows flew up on his forehead and he looked between Tony and Loki. "I can only assume this is connected to the completion of your bond." He shook his head and took off his glasses to clean with the corner of his button-up. "Loki was being rather reticent with information about the bonding."

Tony glanced at Loki, curious, and the god grimaced. "It's personal," he explained.

Tony considered that for a moment, then looked back towards Bruce. "Is the data absolutely necessary for your work?"

Bruce shrugged. "Not _absolutely_."

Tony nodded. "It's personal."

Loki relaxed slightly against Tony, telling him exactly how long he'd been going around in circles over this matter with Bruce.

Bruce, for his part, just sighed and nodded; he knew when Tony wasn't going to explain any further. "I still haven't found a way to anticipate Loki's next heat, but there _has_ been a change since you two bonded."

Tony frowned as Loki tensed next to him; clearly, Bruce hadn't mentioned his finding to the god yet. "Change how?"

"Nothing _bad_," Bruce assured them, and Loki relaxed a bit. "Or, well, I don't _think_ it's bad," he admitted. Before Tony could snap at him, Bruce quickly explained, "There was a particular pheromone Loki was putting out that is completely gone, now. It's not something humans ever release, so I can't say what it was for." He shrugged. "Thor's never put it out, either. I assume it's something specific to Jötnar, and unless you start showing adverse reactions, I'm not going to worry."

"We can ask Thor," Tony suggested. "He might know the difference."

"Unlikely," Loki muttered, but he slumped down so he could comfortably rest his head on Tony's shoulder, his arm sliding down to curl around the human's waist.

"Did you need him for anything else?" Tony asked Bruce.

"Hm? Oh, no. You can rescue him from the bad old doctor now."

Tony rolled his eyes and tugged Loki towards the door. "Want to see _my_ lab?" he offered.

Loki's eyes lit up. "_Yes_," he breathed.

Tony laughed and led him into the stairwell to his main tech lab.

-0-

"You smell the same to me as you always have," Thor said to Loki after dinner, once Tony and Bruce had explained the question to him. He shrugged. "Well, the same, but also like Tony." He glanced over at where Tony was giving the brothers space, but fooling no one in pretending he wasn't listening. "Had Bruce not told me there was a difference other than your bond, I would not have noticed it."

"But you can tell I'm bonded," Loki said drily. Then, raising his voice, "Just come over here, Anthony."

Tony grinned and slid comfortably into the spot that seemed naturally fitted for him against Loki's side. "I missed you too, babe."

"You're pathetic."

Tony chuckled and used the hand he'd wrapped around Loki's back to tangle their fingers together. In response, Loki reached down Tony's shoulder until his free hand reached up to twine together.

Thor shook his head, amusement lighting his whole face. "I hardly need scent for that, Brother."

Loki levelled a bland stare on him.

Thor let out a booming laugh, uncaring as Steve and Bruce looked in from where they were talking on the balcony. Clint, Phil, and Natasha had left earlier with the last of the cupcakes; Tony had decided he was best off not asking, lest they discover there _was_ a point where his old anger would return. (Clint would find out how far he could push soon enough, no need to help it along.)

"Yes, Loki, I can smell it," Thor agreed. "I could smell the difference on the helicarrier, even, though it was not so strong as now." His brow furrowed. "The difference between then and now is quite great."

Tony glanced up at Loki, leaving the decision to tell Thor that the bond hadn't been complete before to him. Personally, he didn't care one way or another if Thor knew he'd defended a partial bond, and it was always better to get these sorts of things out in the open before they blew up. But, well, there were centuries of history between the two that Tony wouldn't even _pretend_ to understand, and he refused to take any choices away from Loki when it came to what he wanted to share with his family.

Really, the only choices Tony would probably chance taking away from Loki were ones that might adversely affect their pack.

Loki met Tony's eyes, then glanced up at Thor. "It was only partial."

Thor's eyebrows raised. "A _partial_ bond?" he asked, an odd note in his voice.

Loki tensed. "Must I _always_ repeat my–"

"Forgive me, Brother," Thor soothed, the odd note still there. "It is simply..." He cleared his throat. "There are _tales_ of bonds which will begin to form of their own, but no recorded cases. You will recall our laws tutor?"

"Which one?" Loki muttered, the defensive anger drained from his tone. "You scared off three of them."

"Two," Thor corrected. "_You_ scared off the third."

"Boys," Tony interrupted, sensing the impending debate and moving to stop it before they could really get started. "Laws tutor," he added to Thor when the blond gave him a stunned look, clearly having not expected someone to interrupt. "Fairy tale bonds. Don't leave me hanging, buddy."

Thor's mouth twitched with a quickly suppressed smile. "Our last one," he said for Loki's benefit. "One of the days you vanished before lessons, I asked her about bond laws."

Loki made a disgusted sound. "Of course you did. Thor, you spent _far_ too much time–"

Tony squeezed both of Loki's hands. "Hush. Story time now, griping time later."

Loki snorted, but obediently subsided.

Thor didn't bother suppressing his smile that time, though he made a point to not look at Loki. "Bond laws have become less complicated since Father forbade travel to Jötunheimr," Thor explained to Tony, "since the omegas were removed from reach, but there are still complications in policing bonds without them."

"We've got enough complicated bond laws here on Earth," Tony replied with only a hint of bitterness – he didn't want to think about how difficult it was going to be to get American law to recognise his binding with Loki, given he was the same gender, an alien, _and_ a wanted criminal. "Skip the technicalities, tell me the story."

Thor's smile widened slightly and his eyes flickered towards Loki's unimpressed stare before returning to Tony's openly hopeful expression. "There is a law, one very old, older even than Bestla and Borr–"

"Who and who?" Tony whispered to Loki.

"The Allfather's parents," Loki whispered back.

Thor rolled his eyes at both of them. "Older than memory," he continued, silently daring Loki to interrupt, which the Trickster pointedly _didn't_ do. "Rumour says it was given by the Norns, for only the Norns might give the rule occurrence. Of course, the Norns are sworn–"

"Thor," Loki interrupted, sighing when Thor grinned in victory. "Yes, very good, you've surpassed droll and are travelling into the realm of sleep-inducing. Feel free to reach your point some time this century."

Tony bit his tongue to keep from laughing; he'd _never_ seen Thor this good-humoured, and even Loki seemed more amused than irritated with his brother, for once.

Thor, at least, seemed to know how far he could push Loki, for he finally got to the point: "The law is for those bonds that begin to form without intent, to give them the same rights as any other bonded pair even before the bond completes." He shrugged, smile turning uncertain. "When I asked her how many times the law had been put into effect, she said none. For no two destined souls can deny their bond long enough for a bond to force itself."

"That...almost makes sense," Bruce cut in, surprising all of them. He and Steve had come in at one point and settled in to listen. "Think about it, Tony, it was the perfect set-up. Three alphas, and an omega going into heat. One alpha has familiar ties, another can't parse out the pheromone-based signals. The last one is in the perfect position to take what the universe has put in front of him."

"The last one had _morals_," Tony replied drily.

"Such pesky things," Loki commented, amusement in his voice.

Tony's expression tightened and he glanced up at his mate. "Tell me you would have accepted the bond. If I'd given in to instincts and just fucking did whatever I pleased with you in that apartment, tell me you wouldn't have run the fuck away as soon as you could, hating me and everything I stood for."

Loki looked away.

Tony shook his head and looked past Thor's naked curiosity to Bruce's grim smile and Steve's helpless understanding. "Perfect set-up, maybe, but shitty timing."

"Right people, wrong time," Bruce agreed with a shrug. "It hardly matters, now."

"This is very true," Thor agreed. "The Norns' plan will see itself done, against our own wills, if necessary."

"That moment I'm reminded that even gods have people pulling the strings," Tony muttered under his breath. Then, loud enough for all of them to hear, he said, "I'm ready to turn in. Loki?"

Loki nodded. "I am willing."

"I should probably turn in, myself," Steve agreed, stretching his arms over his head. "We should discuss whether or not you're intending to help us on the field, at one point," he added to Loki as the three of them started for the elevator and stairs, Thor and Bruce falling in behind them.

Loki blinked in surprise, then shook his head. "I do not enjoy battle as Thor does."

Steve shrugged. "Neither does Tony or Bruce. And Natasha and Clint would _much_ prefer going unnoticed." He hit the button to go down, assuming Tony and Loki would take the stairs up, since Tony usually did. "You don't have to decide right this moment, and nothing on this Earth could make you come out on any one day if you didn't want to. Just...think about it, okay? Any and all help is appreciated."

"I'll consider the opportunity," Loki promised.

Steve grinned. "Swell!"

"No. No, Steve, we've talked about this," Tony complained.

"He's doing it on purpose. Go to bed, Tony," Bruce insisted, gently pushing Tony towards the stairs. "Loki."

"Old fart!" Tony called as he let Loki lead the way into the stairwell.

Steve's laughter followed after them, echoing in the stairwell.

-0-

There was some strain, trying to include Loki in their pack, but there had always been strain over the meeting of two very different cultures, and they made it work. It helped that Tony was calmer, now, was willing to let Clint and Natasha and Phil get away with more; for the first time, they managed to sit through an entire film without Tony needing to walk out.

The most complicated part about the merge, really, was that Loki didn't know how to be an alpha. He'd spent so many centuries being a beta, and he was comfortable there, but mating with Tony had automatically made him their pack's second in-home alpha. Which, given that the Avengers weren't a particularly needy pack, didn't mean much in the short-term, but there was a sort of deference suddenly given to him by the other humans, and he kept experiencing an odd sort of need to see them happy, which Loki hadn't felt for anyone since Hela had outgrown his care. He'd struggled with managing the change on his own for almost a month, feeling constantly lacking, before finally breaking down and telling Tony.

"You know," the inventor said, running his fingers through Loki's hair, the god's head in his lap, "I fought so hard to keep from letting myself be named alpha. Everyone knows I'm _far_ from the picture of responsible adult, and I had no interest in being the one anyone looked to for comfort or support." His smile was rather self-deprecating, and he shook his head. "I suppose that's a good thing about this pack, really. Steve only ever seems to need help catching up on the modern world – a problem he and Thor share, to be honest, but Thor usually asks his girl, since I apparently make him feel stupid."

Loki snorted. "Not hard to do."

"Be nice," Tony returned, but he was grinning. "Bruce is full of science and awkward, and while we sometimes stumble over the giant green rage creature in the room, he's pretty easy to manage. Clint, on the other hand..."

Loki turned his face to laugh against Tony's thigh, well familiar with the most troublesome member of their pack.

"Phil and Natasha aren't too bad at handling him, when I start feeling murderous, and he's pretty good at knowing where the line is, if nothing else." He grimaced. "I'm still waiting for him to find my new limits."

Loki peeked up at him, a smile curling his mouth, but uncertainty still in his eyes. "Be that as it may–"

"The _point_ is, being an alpha isn't easy, and it's not comfortable," Tony interrupted, brushing his thumb along the edge of Loki's cheekbone. "We're, neither of us, born into the position. Not like Thor. We fell into it by chance, and there are going to be bad days, days when you just want to hide in the bathtub with two bottles of one hundred proof and pretend the world doesn't exist." He sighed and offered a tired smile down at Loki. "You've got something I didn't have, when I got dropped into this mess, though."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. "You?" he suggested drily, but the uncertainty in his eyes was being pushed out by a sort of fond amusement that Tony was becoming entirely too attracted to.

"Absolutely. And you know what _I've_ got?"

Loki closed his eyes a bit helplessly, but he was smiling.

Tony chuckled and leaned over a little awkwardly to brush his lips against Loki's. "I've got _you_." He closed his own eyes and pressed his forehead against Loki's chest, over his heart. "Thank you," he whispered, so painfully honest it _ached_.

Loki huffed. "_Sentiment_."

Tony was learning to understand that meant Loki was grateful for him, too.

-0-

Loki was uncomfortable walking around in the common areas shirtless, and Tony started wearing the cover he'd made for the arc reactor after Pepper had complained about the light one night full time, so it took almost five months before someone realised their bonding had resulted in any physical changes.

After a rather nasty battle with Steve's old 'friend', Red Skull, they'd all taken far too many hits for Bruce to have an interest in patching up back at the tower, so they got dragged into SHIELD Medical. Loki was off trying to get Thor to sit still – he was the only one, other than Steve and the Hulk, who could come close to matching the Thunderer's strength, and Steve was being treated for his own wounds, while Loki had come through mostly unscathed – and Tony had a concussion, so neither of them were really capable of keeping an eye on the nurses who were checking Tony out.

He was just trying to blink the light-bursts from the penlight out of his eyes, when one of the nurses said, "If you keep it covered, how can we know if it's still in working– _Mr Stark_!"

Tony looked down at the horrified shout, and it didn't quite connect that she was freaking out over the changed colour of his arc reactor until Bruce stepped in and asked, "Tony, is there a _reason_ the reactor is green?"

Tony blinked a couple times, then looked over at Loki, who looked worried, but less unwilling to share than he had been all those months ago in Bruce's lab. He shrugged and turned back to his own bed, trying to spot his cover. "Sure, there's an excellent reason. And I am so totally willing to talk about it once we get rid of McFury's paid minions."

Bruce glanced over at Loki and Steve, seeking the approval of the two alphas not suffering from a head wound, and when they both nodded, he handed over the arc reactor's cover. "Let Tony and JARVIS worry about the functionality of his tech," he suggested to the nurse.

She stuttered out an apology and skittered away, leaving a space for Loki to occupy, once he'd decided to leave Thor to the human staff. The god did nothing more than lace his fingers with Tony's, but it spoke volumes.

The others waited until Tony had gotten some sleep, thankfully, before asking for an explanation over lunch, all of them miraculously in the kitchen at the same time. (Tony suspected they'd done it on purpose.)

"I don't know why it's gone green, but it's been like that for five months and neither JARVIS nor I have noticed any problems," he told them, not looking up from the orange he was peeling.

"Five _months_?" Steve demanded. "Tony, this is the sort of thing you need to _tell us about_."

"I asked him not to," Loki interrupted, frowning at the soldier from where he was leaning against the wall at Tony's side. "It is a proof of the bond. Had the change proven dangerous, you would have been made aware of it."

"That _is_ the shade of your magic, isn't it?" Bruce realised, rubbing his fingers over his lips. "I didn't even make the connection."

"None of us did," Phil offered drily.

"Brother," Thor interrupted, "have you proof?"

All eyes turned to Loki, who glanced down at Tony. Tony didn't bother looking up from his orange, just shrugged; it was a little too late to keep it from their pack now, but he wasn't going to tell Loki to do anything.

"I have a mark," the dark-haired god said, looking towards Thor. "No, you may _not_ see it."

"Not sure we _want_ to," Clint said, grin wide and obnoxious. "For all we know, it's on your ass or something."

Tony glanced up, then, eyes dancing. "If I'd had my way–"

Loki very gently smacked the back of his head, careful of the white bandaging standing out against the dark colour of his hair. "Shut up, Anthony."

Tony grinned at him and held up half of the orange, which Loki took with a heavy sigh.

Everyone took that as a sign to move on to other topics.

-0-

Tony was in his lab when Thor found him, bent over a strip of metal with an engraving tool in one hand. He was working on a gift for Loki, their one-year anniversary fast approaching, and he was so caught up in it, he didn't even realise Thor was there until the power to the engraver suddenly cut out.

He looked up to find Thor holding the plug, the god's expression torn between irritation and a distant sort of disgust. "I was _working_," Tony snapped, reaching out for the plug.

"My brother requires your presence," Thor reported, voice tight.

"Then he can damn well come down here himself and– Hey. How did you get past the door?" he realised, turning to check that he didn't need to replace the heavy iron door he'd installed to keep Thor and Steve _out_ after one too many interruptions to a project.

Thor let out an irritated sound and ripped the engraver from Tony's hands, tossed it on the table, then grabbed Tony and tossed him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What the _fuck_!" Tony snarled as they passed through the, thankfully intact, iron door. He knew better than to think he could get Thor to release him through physical means, so he fell back on orders. "Put me the fuck down _right_. _Now_."

"No," Thor replied, stepping into the elevator.

"JARVIS!" Tony shouted, trusting in his AI.

_"I apologise, Sir,"_ JARVIS said drily, _"but Mr Loki asked me not to interfere."_

"_MUTINY_!"

Somehow, Tony suspected, the video of this would reach SHIELD and he'd have to put up with being mocked for approximately a week before he got fed up and reminded them that he could ruin all of their lives with a couple lines of code. Clint, of course, wouldn't be so easily stopped, but he could leave that to Phil and Natasha–

The elevator doors opened, admitting them to the common floor and a cloud of pheromones.

Loki was in heat.

"Put me down," Tony ordered, voice lacking all the anger of a moment before.

Thor carefully set him down on the floor, then retreated into the elevator and – Tony assumed – down to his own room.

Bruce and Natasha were sitting with Loki on the larger of the two couches. Bruce had some of his equipment on the coffee table, clearly having been taking readings of some sort before Tony arrived. For the moment, he and Natasha were bracketing Loki, Natasha running her fingers through Loki's hair while the god curled around his knees, whole back tense.

"Out," Tony ordered once he was just out of arms reach of the couch.

Some of the tension left Loki at the sound of Tony's voice, but he didn't move. Bruce and Natasha, however, immediately scrambled to get off the couch and moved past him, towards the elevator and stairs.

Tony waited until they were out of the room before finally coming close enough to slide one hand into Loki's hair, the other working between the god's knees and chest until it could rest above the hidden mark over his heart. "I'm sorry," he murmured as Loki leaned into the touch.

Loki turned to press his face against the hinge of Tony's jaw, letting out a huff. "JARVIS has been trying to get your attention for the past _hour_."

Tony winced. "You could have come down?"

Loki pulled back enough to let Tony see his narrowed eyes. "I'm not getting in the elevator just because you can't pay attention to the AI you _created_ to play nanny for you, and I can't teleport while I'm in heat. _Which you know_."

Tony swallowed. "How can I make it up to you?" he hurried to ask, uninterested in being further berated.

"I require a bath, you, and classical music."

One day, Tony would find out _who_ had introduced his mate to classical music and make them fully regret it. He would have suspected Clint, had the archer not already shared Tony's distaste for it. Not that that distaste had kept him from telling Loki about how often one could go to see it performed live, especially if one was mated to Tony Stark. Clint had only regretted that when Tony made it a pack outing.

Still, Loki loved classical music, and Tony could suffer through a bit of Beethoven – or whichever composer Loki was currently obsessed with; he'd stopped keeping track a few months ago – for his mate.

Really, he could. He'd even keep from complaining about it.

There was a minor scuffle in getting up to the penthouse – Loki didn't like riding in the elevator, and Tony wasn't about to let his mate in the stairwell while his scent was so pronounced – but they made it up eventually. The bath was run – bath bombs included because they were both fond of them, for all that neither would admit to it – and JARVIS put on Loki's requested music while Tony eased his mate into the tub and back against his chest.

"Better?" he murmured into Loki's hair, unbothered by the way it tickled his nose.

Loki hummed and turned slightly so he could curl up between Tony's legs, ear pressed over Tony's heart.

They were quiet for a long while, soaking in the dissipating warmth of the water and each other's presence.

Eventually, when Loki started to shiver slightly, Tony got them both out of the bath, dried off, and curled up in their bed. "Go to sleep, Loki," he suggested quietly, threading his fingers through the slight curls Loki's hair developed when he wasn't using magic to tame it. (Tony was ridiculously fond of the wave, though he'd never dare say so to his mate, who hated it.) "I'll be here when you wake up."

Loki let out a sleepy, pleased noise and curled a little tighter against Tony's chest.

Tony let his mind wander as his mate slept, tracking over designs for his suits or a couple of other projects he was working on, but he kept coming back to the metalwork he was making for Loki.

For all that Tony had spent his entire life working with metal, he'd never before considered making something decorative. But then he and Loki had had the – extremely uncomfortable, thanks – talk about children, since Loki could get pregnant if he was in a female form (or his Jötunn form, according to Thor, but since Loki avoided that form even more than he avoided letting his hair curl, Tony had a feeling they wouldn't be finding out). And Loki – Tony's gorgeous, _broken_ mate – had admitted to having children already. (Yeah, the myths were right. Who knew, right? Thor hadn't known, not about most of them, much to Tony's surprise.)

Bringing up Loki's kids meant bringing up their absence. And while Loki swore he was fine with not seeing any of them – "Sleipnir was the only one I had any hand in raising," he'd said with a shrug, "and he outgrew my mothering centuries ago." – Tony couldn't imagine that wasn't, at least a little bit, a lie. (God of Lies and all.)

So he'd looked up pictures of the kids, and asked Thor for any descriptions he might have – which was how he'd found out that Thor hadn't know about most of them, though he'd met them all at various points over the years. He'd had JARVIS work it all into a single image, which Tony had tweaked a few times before he decided it was both elegant and something he could manage to shape with his limited skills.

"I can hear you thinking," Loki mumbled against the arc reactor.

Tony smiled and scratched blunt nails over the god's scalp. "Sorry."

Loki hummed and raised his head to blink drowsily at Tony, one hand coming up to brush along the edges of the lines on the human's forehead. "Don't stop."

Tony leaned up into the light touch. "Are you hungry?"

"Not particularly."

"When was the last time you ate?"

Loki glanced away. "Breakfast."

Tony shook his head, more fond than anything else, because God knew _he_ was forever forgetting to eat. "JARVIS, have something ordered in. Uhm, for the whole pack. See if one of them will bring some up to us."

_"It will be twenty minutes, Sir,"_ JARVIS reported.

Tony turned his attention back to Loki. "Pants, at least, I think."

Loki groaned and clung to Tony, forcing him to stay in the bed for another fifteen or so minutes, but when JARVIS warned them the delivery man was downstairs, the god allowed himself to be dragged over to the closet. Pants were put on – everything awkward because Loki refused to stop touching Tony – and Loki tugged on a shirt to hide his mark, then they walked out into the empty hallway between their bedroom and the guest room that had been mostly repurposed as an office slash library that Loki got the most use out of, for all that the majority of the things in there were Tony's.

It was Bruce who brought up the food, smiling as Tony accepted it with a grateful grin. "Do we need to set up a feeding schedule for you two?" the doctor asked. He'd threatened something similar for Natasha's heats, but Clint and Phil could at least take turns.

"Probably," Tony admitted as he passed a paper cup of greasy French fries back to his mate; Loki had developed an odd sort of fascination with potatoes and the different ways they served them, which not even Thor could quite seem to understand. (Tony was slowly coming to understand that there were a lot of things Thor either didn't know or didn't understand about his brother.) "Should I leave it up to Steve to figure it out, or have JARVIS do it?"

Bruce grimaced. "We'll discuss it with JARVIS. I assume you don't want Clint coming up?"

"He can come up if he behaves himself," Tony decided. The archer and Loki had apparently worked out an odd sort of system where they were best friends and partners in crime one week, making the rest of the pack miserable, and the next week they were snarling at each other over the littlest things. They'd all just learned to make do, but it happened to be an off week between them, and there was no telling, really, what Clint would do.

"I'll let him know," Bruce replied drily.

Tony flashed him a grin, distractedly grabbing for Loki's hand as the god reached into the bag for more fries, missing entirely. "What about Thor? How did he handle it?"

Loki froze at Tony's back, the hand attached to his waist spasming and gripping a little too tight. Tony didn't say anything, just turned his mind from the ache.

Bruce's eyes flickered to where Loki must have been peeking around Tony's shoulder. "He said he wouldn't have even guessed Loki was in heat. To him, it just smells like Loki'd come from... Oh, how did he put it? 'Bathing in your stink', I think."

Tony choked on a laugh and shook his head. "So, no crazy?"

"No crazy," Bruce promised, a spark of humour in his eyes. "He probably won't want to come up here, though."

"That's fine. I'd tell him to go to his lady scientist's if he's really uncomfortable, but you all might end up needing him."

"With you _and_ Loki out of commission? Steve would probably have a heart attack if Thor tried leaving."

Tony snorted. "We wouldn't want that." He shook his head and used the bag to salute Bruce, mostly just to keep it out of Loki's reach. "Thanks for the food, Shrek."

Bruce rolled his eyes and turned to leave. "We'll have JARVIS let you know what we figure out. Keep your room door closed if you're not both decent, please."

Like Tony was actually going to let any of his pack see his mate naked.

He turned back to Loki, only to find the god looking at him with wide, pitiful eyes. "You are _entirely_ too good at that," Tony grumbled, handing over the other cup of fries.

Loki flashed him a smirk that was one hundred percent smug bastard, then dragged him back into the bedroom.

-0-

The first part of Loki's heat lasted almost two days, warning Tony – and the rest of the Avengers, through JARVIS – that this heat wasn't going to be nearly as quick as his last one. Tony found himself torn between pleasure, because longer meant more time spent marathon fucking Loki, and concern, because it had been bad enough being kept away from his pack for a week the last time. At least JARVIS would let him know if anything went wrong, and they'd be bringing food, for all that Tony wasn't likely to see any of them while they were doing so.

And, well. Tony could absolutely trust Steve to keep an eye on everyone. Which was more calming than the knowledge that JARVIS would keep him updated.

The first day was a little rough; their genetics were just different enough that Loki's pheromones weren't affecting Tony quite like they should have been, and so it was a bit hit or miss whether Tony would be ready for the next round when Loki needed him to be.

After twenty-four hours, though, their bodies met in the middle and the toys Tony had pulled out from under the bed got tossed in whichever direction they happened to be facing when they found them in the twisted mess of lube- and ejaculate-stained sheets. (Tony was pretty sure one of them had hit the full-length mirror between the bathroom and closet doors, but honestly didn't care, beyond a brief moment of concern for broken glass.)

As a general rule, they would have a little over an hour of downtime before Loki would be clawing at Tony for another round. That break lengthened a bit if whatever meal came late in the cycle, Loki's body aware that they both needed the food, even if the two of them weren't actually feeling hungry right that moment.

Sleep was, apparently, less of a concern, and Tony chalked that up to the simple fact that Thor and Loki needed less sleep than their human pack mates. At least Tony was used to not getting near enough sleep, and someone had apparently talked Bruce into letting him have _real_ coffee with every meal, which helped a lot.

After almost three weeks, they started to slow down. The breaks between sex were longer, and Tony found himself less inclined to bite and scratch at Loki as he fucked into the god. (And, _wow_, that had been odd; Tony had nothing against a bit of an edge in bed, but there was rough sex, and then there was aiming to physically damage his partner, and this had been more the latter. If it had been anyone other than Loki, he would have got the fuck out of Dodge, but he _knew_ he couldn't cause any permanent damage to his mate – could barely manage to bruise him as it was – so he only put up a token fight and was secretly grateful for his short nails.)

When Tony woke to light fingers running through his hair instead of Loki's mouth around his cock, he knew they were in the clear. "Morning," he murmured, leaning up for a kiss.

"Evening," Loki corrected against Tony's lips.

Tony glanced towards the darkened windows – JARVIS had just left them dark after the first time Tony whined about sun in his eyes while he was trying to catch some sleep between fucks – and shrugged. "If you say so."

_"It is, indeed, evening,"_ JARVIS supplied. _"Just after eight o'clock."_

Tony huffed a laugh. "Is there food outside?"

"It was cold," Loki supplied.

Tony raised an eyebrow – he'd been the one gathering the food each time, partially because he didn't care who saw his mark of their bonding, partially because he _liked_ seeing Loki sprawled naked across their bed – then shrugged. "Cold as in 'only a vagabond would touch it', or cold as in 'only Loki _won't_ touch it'?"

Loki's hand in his hair gave a tug, making Tony wince. "If you're distracted enough, you'll eat anything."

"Are you calling me a vagabond?" Tony demanded, more playful than annoyed. (Though, really, that hair pulling had _hurt_.)

Loki didn't respond, just kept watching him, expression blank.

Tony tensed and sat up, unintentionally knocking Loki's hand from his hair. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Loki didn't respond, just leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the arc reactor.

"Loki?" Tony asked, wrapping his arms around the god's shoulders and trying not to panic. "Babe, come on. Talk to me."

Loki's whole body shuddered and his arms came up to wrap around Tony, holding him almost too tight. "Thank you," he whispered, voice cracking.

"Oh." Tony leaned forward, over Loki's back, and pressed a kiss against his spine. "You're welcome."

Loki shuddered again and something wet splashed against Tony's thigh.

He closed his eyes and pressed another kiss to Loki's back, feeling lost. How was he – broken enough as he was, in his own way – supposed to pull his mate back together? How could he _possibly_ heal all the damage that Loki had suffered, all the things he usually hid away behind a too-sharp smile and tense shoulders?

"I love you," he said at last, because he knew what it was like to need to be needed.

And because, after a year of finding their way around each other's sharp edges, it was true.

Loki let out a quiet noise, almost like a sob, and he pulled back enough to meet Tony's gaze. Water-logged green to helpless shades of brown.

Tony reached up and cupped the god's cheek. "I do," he whispered.

Loki closed his eyes and reached up to hold Tony's hand in place. "I–" He choked, pressing Tony's hand a little tighter against his cheek.

"Loki. It's not– You don't have to–"

Loki's eyes snapped open, a fire in them that made Tony's mouth snap shut. "I love you too, you infuriating human."

Tony blinked, then let himself grin. "I'm not nearly so infuriating as Clint."

Loki let out a snort, looked adorably surprised for a moment, then burst out laughing, leaning forward to curl against Tony's chest again.

Tony grinned, victory a heady feeling, and he wondered if, maybe, Thor and Loki's fate-tellers – Norns, or whatever – hadn't known _exactly_ what they were doing the whole time.

..


End file.
